


The Boy in the Mirror || Komahina

by meichi



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Despair (Dangan Ronpa), Alternate Universe - Royalty, Background Akamatsu Kaede, Background Naegi Makoto, Background Shirogane Tsumugi, Background Soda Kazuichi, F/F, Fantasy, Fluff and Angst, Hinata hajime - Freeform, Ikusaba Mukuro - Freeform, Iruma Miu - Freeform, M/M, Nanami Chiaki - Freeform, Non-Despair Enoshima Junko, Oma Kokichi - Freeform, Saihara Shuichi - Freeform, Sonia Nevermind - Freeform, Supportive Akamatsu Kaede, komaeda nagito - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-30
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:54:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 16
Words: 26,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23919271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meichi/pseuds/meichi
Summary: Komaeda Nagito is the son of Inari and heir to the throne of the World of Yokai. Alongside his younger twin sister Sonia and his two servants, the prince held a rather lonely life. In a couple of months, he will turn 18 and become the Emporer of the kingdom.One night, the curious Kitsune went out in secret and found a handheld mirror, but it wasn't any ordinary mirror, and is actually home to a ghost boy who goes by the name of "Hinata,"Keeping the mirror a secret from everyone else, Komaeda and Hinata had become good friends, but is there a way for Komaeda to free him?
Relationships: Hinata Hajime/Komaeda Nagito, Nanami Chiaki/Sonia Nevermind
Comments: 26
Kudos: 267





	1. Prologue

A long time ago, the World of the Yokai was split and ruled over by two kingdoms, the Zenko, and the Yako. As the Yako quickly rises to tyrannical power, the quicker tensions rose.

During the Kamakura Period, a civil war had broken out between the two kingdoms. The Zenko, servants of Inari, we're fighting in defense of their people, while the Yako, who had belonged to no Kami, had merely fought for amusement. Nearly three decades had gone by, countless lives were lost, but the Zenko had risen to victory, and the war had ended.

To make sure no fear had washed over the world once more, Inari had ordered the Zenko to eradicate every last one of the Yako, shattering their star balls and cutting their tails. With the extermination of the evil Yako, the world was finally at peace once again, and the Zenko rose to full control of the Yokai and the two sides of the world merged.

Peace has washed over the world, and the Zenko had been ruling peacefully for many centuries...

A whitehaired Kitsune furrowed his eyebrows as he reread that passage of the scroll until someone knocked and entered his room.

"Komaeda-sama? Do you mind if I step in?" Komaeda looked over to see a blonde pigtailed girl poking her head in from the shoji door.

He smiled and motioned for her to enter.

"You can come in, Enoshima. I'm just reading." He chuckled a bit as the tengu entered the room. "You know you don't need to call me that, you've been taking care of me for years, you can call me Nagito."

She smiled at him. "Alright, Nagito-sama."

Komaeda raised an eyebrow.

The tengu girl chuckled awkwardly. "Sorry, but it's only respectful, my Prince."

He rolled his eyes playfully. "Yeah yeah..."

"What are you reading?"

The boy sighed and rolled up the scroll, setting it down on his lap, "just rereading how Mother rose to power..."

Enoshima frowned. "You don't seem very happy about that, my Prince..."

Komaeda shook his head. "I know it took place centuries ago, but... was it really necessary to kill off their entire race? Not all of the Yako could have been bad, right?"

The girl bit her bottom lip before answering. "They all were, your ancestors didn't have a choice."

He huffed. "Yako was Kitsune who didn't serve Kami, right?"

She nodded silently.

"Do you think Yako used to be Zenko who strayed away from Mother?"

Enoshima chuckled slightly and patted Komaeda's head. "Let's save those questions for later, huh? Mukuro and I promised your mother that we'd have you and your sister ready for your birthday."

"Ugh! Don't remind me!" He pouted.

She chuckled again, "Come on... what's wrong now?"

Komaeda sighed and stood up, "I don't really think I'm qualified to lead a kingdom."

She smiled softly at him, "Oh don't worry! You'll be a great leader!"

Unconvinced, Komaeda's lips tightened as he followed his servant down the hallway. The prince's birthday was more than half a year away, but planning the coronation would have taken months of preparation.

In a little more than half a year, Komaeda would be crowned king, and that scared the Kitsune prince.

While he was spacing out, he absentmindedly follows the winged girl into the other room, where they greeted another black-haired Tengu and a light blonde Kitsune.

The fox girl looked over and smiled at the two who had just arrived, "Hello Nagito and Enoshima!"

The black-haired girl frowned and tugged at the princess's kimono slightly, "Excuse me, Sonia-sama. Please don't move too much, or else you'll ruin the fabric patterns."

Sonia laughed awkwardly, "My apologies, Ikusaba."

She sighed and silently motioned for the other two to enter the room. Now having permission, Enoshima dragged Komaeda, who was still daydreaming, over by his sleeve. Unbeknownst to his surroundings, Komaeda bumped into the wall.

"Ah-!" He jumped back in surprise and held his nose with his hand.

Enoshima gasped, and sighed, walking over to the prince to see if he was okay. Carefully, she removed his hands from his face, checking to see if his nose started bleeding.

Thankfully, it didn't, but there was a small red mark as a result of the impact. In the end, the blonde girl just sighed.

"You really need to be careful."

Komaeda laughed awkwardly, "Eh... sorry, I guess I was just spacing out..."

Ikusaba frowned, but didn't look up from tailoring Sonia's kimono, "Are you worried, your majesty? About the coronation?"

Komaeda sighed and crossed his arms, looking out the window, "I guess you could say that. I don't think I'm really fit to lead a kingdom. Sonia's more worthy of becoming queen, so why won't she be crowned?"

Sonia laughed and looked at her brother from the mirror she was standing in front of, "You're older, and, well, you're the biological child. It's only natural you're the next heir to the throne."

The white-haired boy frowned at his sister's response, "Blood relation doesn't prove anything..."

"True, but being the eldest does. Whether you like it or not, you would become king someday. Your mother was younger than you when she assumed the throne, and she led a war too." Enoshima explained.

"That's what worries me," Komaeda explained, "What if it happens again?"

"That's unlikely," Enoshima smirked, "The Yako are gone, and it's not like the Bakeneko are gonna try and do anything. If they do, their entire kind will just be exterminated too," she laughed.

"That reminds me, you and Ikusaba fought in the Kamakura war, right?"

"We didn't just fight in it, we were born during the war," Ikusaba stated.

"That must have been tough..." Sonia muttered.

"How old were you when you fought? If you don't mind us asking."

Enoshima sighed, "Let's see... we fought in the last year, so... we were around maybe 19 at the time?"

Komaeda chuckled, "You look pretty good for being over half a millennium old!"

"Hahaha... don't push it, young man." Enoshima smiled.

Komaeda returned her smile, but suddenly his smile faded into a frown, "What was it like? Having to kill all those people?"

Enoshima frowned, "It wasn't anything we weren't trained to do. Tengu are meant to protect, we did what we have to do to protect your mother and her people."

Not happy with the answer, Komaeda looked away and at the floor, "You didn't feel any remorse, did you?"

"No, we didn't," Ikusaba said sternly.

"They were all bad people," Enoshima added, "They didn't serve any Kami, nor were they celestial or heavenly beings."

Komaeda fell silent, and continued to look down at the floor with a frustrated look on his face, "That doesn't make sense... there must have been a Kami..."

Enoshima sighed, "There wasn't. If there were, they would have been recorded in the scrolls. Now, let's get back to why we came here. Let's get you fitted for your Hakama."

_____

Nighttime had finally arrived, the prince's favorite time of the day. The village was quiet and dark, and the palace was beginning to die down, as the servants had begun to clean around the castle.

Komaeda stayed in the library, and looked out at the sky from the balcony, with a soft candlelit fire at his side. Already dressed in his jinbei, Komaeda was ready for bed, but he stayed up in the library, not reading a book like he usually would, but instead, he stared up at the clear night sky.

As loneliness settled in on the young prince, he quietly listened to the song of crickets as the midnight breeze softly flowed through his hair. He hummed softly to himself until he hears someone slide the door open from behind him.

"There you are, Nagito-sama. It's past midnight, you should be heading to bed."

He turned around to see Ikusaba standing by the door, holding a lantern in one of her hands. The prince silently nodded, he blew out the candle and followed the tengu inside.

Wordlessly, Ikusaba guided Komaeda to his bedroom, using the lantern as the only light in the otherwise dark hallways. When they arrived, Ikusaba looked up at Komaeda and smiled softly, "Have a nice rest." She spoke before leaving, walking back down the hallway.

Komaeda entered his room, using the light from the moon as his only guide. Sure, he had the power to create fire, as all Kitsunes do, but he didn't necessarily know how to control it. Not wanting to set his home ablaze, Komaeda found a match stick and carefully lit it, bringing it up to a candle and lighting it.

Using the candle holder, Komaeda slowly walked over to his futon and sat down. With nothing other than the sound of the cackling of the candle to listen to, Komaeda looked up at the ceiling and sighed.

Tucking himself into bed, Komaeda sniffed and looked up again. He stared off into space for a little bit, before finally turning around and blowing out the candle. Darkness had now filled his room, and he turned around to his side.

The prince's eyes fell heavy, as another lonely and boring day had finally come to an end. Sleepiness overcame him, as he slowly closed his eyes and fell into a slumber.


	2. The Fox and the Spider

A blue-haired Jorogumo was busy sewing a silk obi when she heard the door to her shop open.

"Shirogane-san? Are you in here?"

The girl looked up from her work and set the fabric down, walking over and pulling back the curtains to the back room, "Oh, Komaeda-kun! If you're here to pick up the kimono, it's not quite done yet."

Komaeda shook his head, "No, I just came here to chat. I needed to get away from everything, hehe..."

Shirogane smiled and let her hair down from the messy bun it was previously in, "I dunno, they'll probably track you down soon." She laughed.

The boy sighed and looked over at a yukata hanging on display, eyeing the simple cotton fabrics of muted green colors. 

Shirogane giggled in the background, "Are you interested in that yukata? You can have it if you want."

Komaeda turned around and shook his head, "Aw, no! I was just looking at it, I didn't bring any money anyway." He smiled.

Shirogane returned his smile and began reorganizing other articles of clothing on the other side of the room.

"You make your fabrics, right?" Komaeda asked, walking over to the spider girl.

She nodded, "Mhm! Best in the village, too!"

Komaeda smiled softly. Shirogane, to his knowledge, was among one of the last in her kind. Although it didn't affect him necessarily, the fact still upset him, but Shirogane didn't seem to mind it much. Either she really did not mind, or it was an act to avoid ending up like her relatives.

"Hey, Shirogane-san? Do you ever get lonely?"

The girl turned to look at him, "Huh? What do you mean?"

Komaeda shrugged, "Being the last of your kind, I guess? I'm couped up in a castle all day, every day, and that gets extremely lonely- I nearly go insane!" He chuckled softly.

Shirogane smiled sympathetically, "While It does get really hard sometimes, I try not to look too deeply into the negatives of life. Come, I made some tea." she motioned him to follow her as she walked again into the back room of the store.

She offered him to hit down at the coffee table while she went over to a nearby stove, and poured a hot liquid into two teacups. She walked back over to the prince and sat down, handing him the cup of the hot liquid.

He smiled at her and carefully took the cup in his hands, "Thanks, Shirogane-san..." he said before taking a quick sip of the tea.

"Mmm... Matcha?"

The girl giggled, "It might not be the best grade, but I make do with what I have." She said and took a sip of her own tea.

Komaeda chuckled, "It's still good, even if it's not the grade I'm used to."

She smiled again. "That's good. I thought I might have treated you some. You looked a little stressed lately."

Komaeda sighed, "You noticed?"

Shirogane put her cup down, "Of course I've noticed. What's wrong?"

The Kitsune shrugged, "I guess it's all the preparations for the ceremony and everything. I'm kind of already throwing my life away, and how I'm going to give it up before I even start it..."

Shirogane frowned, "Do you honestly feel that way about all this?"

He nodded, "Yes! Leading a kingdom? I can't possibly do that! Besides, just one person leading both sides?"

"Some people aren't going to agree with you, and that's fine. You don't have to feel obligated to make everyone like you. As long as the majority does, you'll be fine."

Komaeda frowned, "I know... I just feel like I'll mess everything up... I have a dinner to attend tonight, and I don't feel ready for it."

"I'm sure you will be, don't worry, Komaeda-kun. You're not going to be totally alone." The blue-haired girl smiled.

He took a deep breath, "Yeah, I guess you're right."

She smiled again, "See? Everything is going to be fine. Besides, your birthday is pretty far away, so there's no point in worrying now."

Komaeda's frown slowly faded into a small smile as he took another sip from his tea.

"It's best to live your life to the fullest."

_____

Komaeda had finished tying his himo and adjusting his haori when he heard a lock at the door.

"Nagito! Are you almost done?"

"Ah! I'm almost done, Sonia! Just hold on a bit longer!"

He turned back to look at himself in the full-length mirror before dusting off his Haori. He sighed before turning his heel and sliding the shoji door open, "Alright then, let us go."

The Zenko siblings walked down the hallways of their home together as they both silently marched towards the dining room. Komaeda cleared his throat and tugged on his collar out of nervousness as they approached the room. It wasn't any regular family dinner.

Despite the fact their kingdom was a total monarchy, Komaeda was still going to have to be evaluated by the highest-ranked Yokai of each race. He bit his lip and tried to calm his nerves- being even a few seconds late was a sign of inadequacy.

He tried to remember what his friend had told him earlier in the day and nodded to himself. Sonia seemed equal as nervous- she would be judged too if something were to happen to her brother.

Once they arrived at their destination, a sleepy, pink-haired Baku was waiting at the door to introduce them, "The children of Inari, Komaeda Nagito and Sonia..."

"Thanks, Nanami." Sonia smiled and whispered to her.

The two promptly took their respective introductions and sat on either side of their mother. Komaeda looked around the table and tried his best to keep a straight face. He eyes his Tengu servants, who were both standing at the door, in case anything were to happen.

He and his sister were the last ones to the dinner, which probably wasn't a good impression already. Still, he tried his best to be friendly with the delegates, smiling and making small talk. Every once in awhile, he'd look up at either Inari or his sister, who both just glanced at him before turning back.

He took a deep breath and continued being friendly amongst the other Yokai, trying his best to be charismatic.

"So... Komaeda," a black-haired Bakeneko with twin drills began, "What makes you think you'd be a good leader?"

"W-well.... ahem. Well, I'm not exactly sure yet, Ludenburg-san. Everyone seems happy under Inari's care. So, I will try my best to be as kind-hearted as her, and try in all of my power to make this world better than it already is." He said with false confidence.

The girl tilted her head, her red eyes piercing through Komaeda's soul. After a few moments, she smirked slightly and nodded her head, "Very well."

Komaeda relaxed his body as soon as she lowered her head. He swallowed the lump in his throat and prepared himself for any other questions that might have been thrown at him.

_____

After a few agonizing hours, Komaeda and Sonia were finally able to be freed. As Komaeda waltzed back to his bedroom, he noticed Nanami walking down the hallway.

"Hello, Nanami! Tired as always?"

"Hmm... not really, I'm more tired during the day..." She said and rubbed her eyes.

He smiled, "You seem a little tired."

"Maybe.. but that's just who I am. I'm more active during the night."

"Dream eating, right?"

"It's a collaborative job, but even with a lot of helpers, it can still get pretty chaotic..." She smiled lazily.

Komaeda giggled and waved to the girl, "Well, I won't hold you any longer. Good night!"

"Good night."

The two exchanged their goodbyes and Komaeda continued his trip back to his room. When he arrived, he looked at himself in the mirror and slid off his haori, hanging it on the top corner of the mirror for the time being. Just when he was about to take off his himo, there was a knock at the door.

"Come in."

The door slide open as Enoshima poked her head inside, "Am I interrupting anything?"

Komaeda shook his head. No, it's fine. You can come in."

The girl smiled and stepped inside the room, "You seem to have big plans, Nagito-sama."

He shook his head, "No... I was just sucking up to the delegates."

Enoshima smiled, "Still, I know you'll be able to do it. Actually, I have a small gift for you."

Komaeda turned his full attention to Enoshima, and just then did he realize she had her arms behind her back, "A gift? I don't think I warrant any gift..."

She shook her head, "I was going to give it to you for your birthday, but I figured now would be a good time too. You like pretty things, right?"

Komaeda nodded, "I guess? They're appealing to look at."

"Great! Then here!" She beamed and handed him a small, pearl-like ball, that seemed to be glowing a faint, dark, purplish-blue color, "It's a crystal ball, I found it a while ago, and I thought you might like it."

Unsure of what to say, Komaeda slowly shook his head, "I- no, Enoshima, I don't deserve this."

"Of course you do! When I saw it, I immediately thought of you. Do you not like it?" She frowned.

"No! I mean, yeah! I like it, I just-"

Enoshima smiled slyly, "Then you'll take it."

Not having much of a choice, Komaeda took the ball from the Tengu's hand and silently admired it, "I- ... th-thank you, Enoshima."

She smiled, already walking over to the door, "Of course! Have a good night, my prince." She waved and slide the door closed.

Now alone again, Komaeda looked down at the crystal ball in his hand and smiled softly. He placed the ball on his shelf and finished preparing for bed. He blew out his candles and stared up at the ceiling.

"Everything is going to be okay... live my life to the fullest... Yeah... yeah! I guess I can do that..."


	3. The Shrine of Repressed Memories

"Hey, Sonia?"

"Hm?"

"Remember when we were younger we would convince Enoshima and Ikusaba to let us play around in the forest near the village?" Komaeda turned to face his sister.

Sonia giggled, "Of course! Back when we had no responsibilities. Though they never let us go too far deep."

The boy smiled as he set one of the books he was holding back on to the shelf, "That always upset me. I really wanted to see what was out there."

Sonia shook her head, "I would have been too scared to go, haha!"

"Pfft, you? Scared? You're into all kinds of creepy things, how could you be scared of a few trees?"

Sonia playfully punched Komaeda on the arm, "We were like five!"

Komaeda laughed and set a book he was holding to rub his arm.

The girl laughed as well and put a book away, "Why were you asking anyway?"

Komaeda pursed his lips, "Do you think we'll be able to ever go out again?"

Sonia frowned, "That's when we were little kids, Nagito. We're growing up, so I highly doubt we'll ever get to play like that again."

He sighed, "Whatever, I guess."

The two continued to organize their books in silence until they heard the door to the library open.

"Hey... are you two in here...?" A tired voice called out.

Sonia nearly dropped the book she was holding in her hand and quickly turned around, "N-n-n-n-Nanami-san! You startled me!"

Komaeda sighed and shook his head, waving at the Baku that had just entered the room, "Hello, Nanami-san!"

"Hello." The pink-haired girl replied.

"Did you need us for something?"

She shook her head, "No. I just came to check on you... what are you doing?"

"We were just reorganizing our books," Sonia smiled, "Just trying to pass the time."

"That sounds boring."

Komaeda smiled awkwardly, "Well, we both like reorganizing, so it's fun for us!"

Nanami smiled slightly, "Well, if you two have time... would you care to join me and Owari-san for a game of Hanetsuki?"

"Hanetsuki?" Sonia tilted her head, "I thought you didn't like games like those."

"I don't. But if I have to play, so do you." Nanami said sternly.

The two Kitsune smiled crookedly and nodded in unison.

The Baku smiled, "Good. Then I'll see you in a bit out in the village fields."

Without giving them a chance to respond, Nanami quickly waved and left the library.

"Guess we don't have much of a choice, do we?" Komaeda sighed.

Sonia giggled, "Well, it'll be nice to be out of the castle for a change. We can finish organizing another time."

She got up and dusted off her clothes before extending her hand to help her brother up.

_____

"Alright! You know the rules! Try to keep the Hane alive by passing it back in forth between the two of you. If you miss you will get your face marked with ink." Enoshima called out, tossing the Hane up in the air and catching it.

"Okay! Go!" She yelled, throwing the shuttlecock up in the air.

Owari was the first to get it, hitting it over to Komaeda on the other side. A little shocked, he swung his paddle absentmindedly, completely missing his intended target as it pathetically got stuck in the ground.

"Ah-"

Suddenly, Ikusaba appeared in front of Komaeda and smeared a line of ink down his cheek, "That's one."

"Come on, Nagito. The game just started! You gotta focus!" Sonia told him from the sidelines.

He dismissively waved his hand, "Yeah yeah. I know, I got this- wah!"

Before finishing his sentence, Komaeda swung his paddle yet again, missing the Hane as it flew passed him, landing on the ground near his tail.

Ikusaba suddenly appeared again and marked his other cheek, "That's two."

"Nagito, you already lost twice!"

He huffed, "Hold on! That's cheating, I wasn't ready! And how come she always get the Hane, huh? I wanna rematch!"

"Oh my gosh..." Sonia sighed.

Nanami giggled from next to her, "He seems determined, does he?"

"Ah... yeah, he does. Even if he really sucks at Hanetsuki." Sonia laughed awkwardly.

Nanami smiled at Sonia, "Does that matter though? As long as you're having fun, it doesn't matter if you're good or not."

Sonia stared at Nanami before speaking up, "Yeah... I guess you're right." She replied, turning to look at the entrance of the forest Komaeda had mentioned earlier that day.

"I heard there were a lot of scary things in there... It's best not to go near it."

Sonia turned back to look at the Baku girl. "I used to be really scared of that forest," Sonia laughed.

"I guess that makes you and me both, I still am scared." Nanami smiled.

"Nagito, coordinate your shots! Don't just swing all willy nilly!" Sonia suddenly shouted.

"I'm trying!"

Nanami giggled softly, "Aha... You two.."

_____

"Hey, you two! Don't go too far! There's a not of scary things in there!"

"Scary...? Nagito... I don't wanna go in..."

The small boy smiled, "Ah! It's okay! We can handle it!"

"Oh no you don't," Ikusaba put her hands on their heads, "There are things in there you shouldn't see. Maybe it's best we go back with Enoshima, eh?"

Komaeda looked up at the Tengu, "What kind of things?"

She frowned, "Maybe I'll tell you when you're older. Right now, we need to go home."

_____

"There are things in there I'm not supposed to see. Scary things. Things I'm not supposed to see until I'm older."

Komaeda stood there alone, surrounded by the trees of the small forest. Their game had ended and Komaeda had a hard time getting the ink off his face.

Holding a lantern in his hand, the Kitsune took a step forward, and then another one. Treading deep into the woods, deeper than he had ever gone before. Following the dirt path, Komaeda continued walking as the lantern illuminated the things around him.

As he walked, there was nothing he thought was out of the ordinary until the path had suddenly stopped. Komaeda bit his lip and contemplated whether or not to go back. No one knew where he was, and if he were to get lost...

Komaeda shook his head rid of any of those negative thoughts. He took a deep breath and continued walking. Again nothing seemed too out of the ordinary, and he was beginning to lose interest until he saw a weirdly grown bush out of the corner of his eye.

Hesitant, Komaeda slowly approached the weird bush, crouching down shining the light from his lantern onto its leaves. His lips tightened as he reached out, and pushed the bush to the side slightly. Instead of its leaves and branches bending, the whole thing fell and moved to the side.

"It's... fake...?" Komaeda murmured to himself.

He leaned over in front of the bush, checking to see if there was anything behind it. Much to his surprise, there was a large clearing in the middle of the forest, that for some reason had been hidden from plain sight, or so it seemed.

Curious, Komaeda got up and stepped over the bush, basking in the confusing discovery he just found. With the cool color of the silver moonlight contrasting the warm colors of his lantern fire, he noticed a structure to what seemed like a shrine a couple of meters in front of him.

Slowly, Komaeda began to walk towards it, setting down the lantern nearby to closer inspect the building.

"It seems... abandoned?" He studied the decayed materials, broken pillars, and much more. It seemed to be a pretty big shrine, so why was it so run down, abandoned, and in the forest?

He walked around the perimeter when his foot suddenly hit something on the ground. He bent down to pick the object up, which seemed like a nameplate of some sort. However, the wood was horribly decayed and completely burnt black on one half, so he couldn't even read the Kanji on it.

The prince dropped the piece of burnt wood and wiped his hands in his hakama. He continued looking around, using the light from the moonlight as a guide. As he poked around, he saw something off about an altar near him. Deciding to take a closer look, he noticed a piece of the wood didn't quite fit in with the rest of the table.

Using his nails, he carefully pulled out the piece of wood and reached into the opening. He pulled out a wooden box, which seemed to be in decent condition compared to the rest of the whole building.

Carefully, Komaeda slowly opened the box, only to reveal a silver handheld mirror. Confused, he grabbed the handle and took it out of the box. He moved it around a bit, noticing that the mirror didn't have a single impurity to it. He stared at his reflection for a moment before deciding it was a normal mirror until the glass suddenly became distorted.

Now more concerned than confused, Komaeda watched as the reflection of a boy he had never seen before appeared in the glass in front of him.

"Oi, what do you want?"

Komaeda's eyes widened as he screamed and threw the mirror onto the grass.

"Hey! Watch it!"

Taking a moment to catch his breath, Komaeda questioned his sanity as he slowly reached for the mirror again.

When it was in his hands again, he stared at the mirror and had a very angry looking spiky brown-haired boy with mismatched eyes staring right back at him. Komaeda's cheeks flushed in embarrassment as he tried to form words to speak.

"Uhhh, hello?" He muttered.

The boy crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes, "Who are you and how did you get here?"

"O-oh, um... I'm Komaeda! I-I just found this place. I didn't know someone lived here? Is this your shrine? Why is it so sad?"

"Tch, I don't need to answer that question."

Komaeda bit his lip, "Okay um... what's your name?"

"Why do you care?"

"Jeez... uhhh... are you a Kitsune?"

The boy raised an eyebrow. "Are you not seeing the ears, or are you just blind?"

Now having enough of the boy's attitude, Komaeda raised the mirror up in the air, "Y'know... It would such a shame if this mirror just... shattered all of a sudden."

"Wait, wait, wait! Please don't do that! Ugh, look, I'm sorry, okay? Just... please don't smash the mirror..." his previously angry expression has softened into an anxious and pleading look.

Komaeda smiled and lowered back to his eye level.

"Ugh, if you really want my name, it's... uh... It's Hinata."

"Well, it's certainly nice to meet you, Hinata-kun!"

"Yeah, yeah."

Komaeda titled his head, "Care to answer my other questions?"

"Uh, yeah. Well, for your information, I am a Kitsune. Just like you."

"Really? I've never seen a dark-haired Kitsune before! Much less one with mismatched eyes!" Komaeda smiled.

Hinata's ears flattened as he continued talking, "Yes, this is my... home. It's been abandoned for centuries. That's why it looks so beat up."

Komaeda frowned. So this boy had just been locked away in a box for that long? Not to mention he sort of lives in a mirror.

"Are you lonely, Hinata-kun?"

"What?"

"Are you lonely?"

Hinata paused, "You're the first person I've talked to for who knows how long."

"Mmmm... I'll take that as a yes. Do you want to come home with me?"

"Huh?"

"Well... It's obviously pretty lonely here, and this is pretty far in the forest, so I think it's a better idea for you to come with me! We could be friends!"

"Tch, friends? You do realize you're talking to a mirror, right?" Hinata asked.

Komaeda nodded, "Well, that doesn't matter. I think we can get along!"

Hinata smiled awkwardly, "I think you're weird."

"Oh don't worry, everybody does!"


	4. Unexpected Friendship

"So Hinata-kun, what are you?"

"Huh?"

Komaeda giggled nervously, "Sorry, that might've sounded rude. I mean, are you like some kind of spirit?"

Hinata pondered for a moment before answering, "I guess you could word it like that. I've been sort of living in this mirror for a while now."

"I see," Komaeda sighed, "Um, you said you've been in that mirror for centuries, right? So, how old exactly are you?"

Hinata frowned, "Sixteen? Maybe seventeen... I uh, I've been stuck in a time loop in this thing."

Komaeda tilted his head, "How does that work?"

The brown-haired Kitsune put his hand on the glass, "Consider this a sort of purgatory. Once I was trapped in here, my body acts as though it's the same day. So, I never feel the need to eat, drink, sleep, or anything. I also sort of stopped aging."

"That's... interesting. When's your birthday?"

"That's a random question, isn't it? I... can't remember that either." He smiled crookedly.

Komaeda frowned, "Ah, well-"

"Nagito!"

Startled, Komaeda quickly threw Hinata's mirror under his pillow and stood up, walking over to the door and opening it.

"Sonia! What's wrong?"

She frowned, "Nothing's wrong with me. I thought I heard you talking?"

Komaeda smiled, "Ah, nope! I'm actually getting ready for bed. You should too."

"Right... well, if you need anything, I'll be in the other room, okay?"

He nodded, "Good night, Sis!"

"Good night."

The boy slid the door closed as his sister left to walk back to her room. A sigh of relief escaped his lips as he walked back over to his futon. He lifted his pillow back up to grab the mirror.

"Are you okay?"

Hinata sighed, "I'm fine, but I would appreciate it if you stop throwing me around."

"Sorry, Hinata-kun," the prince laughed, "I kind of panicked."

He frowned, "So... your first name is Nagito?"

"Oh! I guess I never formally introduced myself, huh?" Komaeda laughed a bit.

"That's a nice name."

"Huh?"

"Your name, Nagito. I think it's nice. Though I think I'll stick to calling you Komaeda." Hinata stated.

"Oh... um, I see..." Komaeda felt his cheeks heat up as he smiled shyly, "Th-thank you..."

Puzzled at Komaeda's apparent embarrassment, Hinata titled his head to the side, "You're welcome?"

"Um! Do you have a first name, Hinata-kun?"

He quickly shook his head, "Nope! Just Hinata. It's weird, I know."

Komaeda laughed a bit, "It's fine. I like your name too."

Hinata smiled slightly before Komaeda yawned unexpectedly.

"Oh, you're tired, huh?" Hinata asked.

Komaeda smiled and rubbed his eyes, "Sorry, I guess I don't have the privilege of not having to sleep."

Hinata huffed as he played with his sleeve, "Then you should go to sleep, it's not like I'm going anywhere..."

Komaeda smiled softly, "You're a lot nicer than I thought you would be, Hinata-kun."

"Ah.. right. Sorry about that..." The brown-haired boy muttered.

"It's fine! Even though we might have got off on the wrong foot, I'm glad we got to know each other at least a little better!" Komaeda smiled.

Hinata nodded, "Uh.. yeah. I guess I'll let you sleep now."

Komaeda smiled, "Good night then!"

He silently set the mirror down at a shelf and silently changed into his jinbei. Komaeda smiled at the thought of a new friend as it crawled into bed, blowing out the candlelight.

His eyes were tired, but Komaeda's mind wasn't. He stared at the wall, thinking about Hinata. Someone about him confused the Zenko, and he didn't know why. Hinata had stated that he was trapped in that mirror, so maybe there was a way for Komaeda to get him out of it.

As Komaeda tried to fall asleep, his mind kept wandering. In the end, he gave up and sat up, using a match to light his candle. Once he did so, he went over to grab Hinata's mirror, shaking it slightly. Soon enough, the image of another boy appeared in the glass.

"Huh?"

Komaeda laughed awkwardly, "Ehehe... I can't sleep..."

Hinata titled his head, "But you said you are tired."

"Ah.. yeah, but my mind won't let me go to sleep, so can we just, talk for a while?"

"Well, it's not like I have a choice, do I?"

The Zenko smiled, "Great!"

_____

After some time in the night, Komaeda had fallen asleep. Not that Hinata minded, it was going to happen sooner or later. As the morning approached, Komaeda was slowly awakened by the light of the sun rising on the horizon.

The white-haired boy yawned as the slowly opened his eyes, he rolled over when he suddenly realized the mirror was lying beside the bed. He slowly reached for the mirror as he sat up.

"Good morning, Komaeda. Did you have a nice sleep?"

He yawned a bit, "Mmhh... I guess... sorry for falling asleep so suddenly..."

"It's fine," Hinata said, "You need sleep anyway."

Komaeda smiled sleepily, "Thank you, Hinata-kun, you're too kind."

"Eh? I'm only being sensible." Hinata replied flatly.

"Still." The prince smiled.

"Hmm..." If we're going to be friends, we're going to have to hang out more, but how do I hang out with-"

"-a mirror?" Hinata finished.

"I wouldn't word it like that but, yeah..." Komaeda said sheepishly.

Hinata's ears flattened as he spoke, "It doesn't matter how frequently you talk to me, I'm just happy that you are even talking to me in the first place."

"R-really?" Komaeda asked.

The brunette nodded, "Of course. You could've left me back at the... shrine, or you could've shattered me, but you didn't. So, thank you for that."

Komaeda looked down, "Y-you don't need to thank me... I-i just... I-I'm gonna find a way to get you out of there! Just you wait!" Komaeda suddenly shouted.

Hinata raised an eyebrow, "That's a pretty big proposal..."

"Well, we're friends now, right? Friends are supposed to help each other!" Komaeda grinned.

In the end, Hinata just sighed and shook his head, "Fine. I'm trusting you, Komaeda."

_____

After eating his breakfast, Komaeda headed to the library to finish reorganizing his books with his sister. The entire time, he remained quiet, taking mental notes of the books and scrolls he was putting away. He didn't bring Hinata with him, afraid that it would draw suspicion.

He remained so quiet and focused, that it started to concern Sonia.

"Uh, are you okay, Nagito?"

"Huh?" Komaeda quickly snapped out of his thoughts, looking over at his sister.

"You seem a little out of it today. Has something been bothering you lately?"

Komaeda shook his head, "No, I was just thinking of some books I may want to read..."

"Hm..." Sonia looked at him, not entirely convinced, "Well, if there's ever anything that's bothering you, you know you can talk to me about anything." She smiled.

Komaeda chuckled softly, "Thanks, Sonia."

He contemplated telling her about Hinata. After all, she is his sister, so Komaeda could practically trust her with anything. Though, afraid of Hinata's safety, he decided to keep his mouth shut.

After their short exchange, the two Zenko went back to working in silence.

_____

After they finished their reorganizing, Komaeda stayed back in the library looking for anything about a magic mirror. Could Hinata be considered a magic mirror?

Whatever magic kept Hinata trapped in that thing, Komaeda was determined to find a way to get him out. As he focused so intently on the scroll he was reading, he didn't notice someone creeping up behind him.

"Komaeda-sama? What are you reading?"

The white-haired Kitsune nearly screeched as Nanami peered over his shoulder.

"Ah! Nanami-san! You startled me!" He laughed, trying to mask his fright.

"Why are you reading that?"

"Oh, this?" Komaeda turned back, "I'm just looking at old scrolls, I'm kind of bored, and I thought these would be interesting to look at."

"Hmm..." the Baku frowned, "You seem pretty invested. Sorry to have disturbed you." She gave an apologetic bow before she began leaving the library.

"Wait, Nanami-san!" Komaeda called out.

"Hm?" The pink-haired girl turned around.

Komaeda paused for a moment before shaking his head and waving his hand dismissively, "Nevermind, it's nothing. Carry on."

Nanami smiled and gave a nod goodbye, before leaving the library and Komaeda once again was left alone.

Komaeda frowned as he returned to look down at the scrolls.

"What kind of magic is this? What kind of Yokai is even capable of this type of magic?"

Komaeda muttered angrily to himself as he continued looking through the countless scrolls and books, mumbling the same questions to himself over and over again before it suddenly hit him.

"Shirogane!"


	5. Mirror Magic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am fully aware that I went on an unexpected hiatus of a little over a month, and I'm very sorry! I'll explain why at the end notes;;;

"Shirogane! Shirogane-san! Open up!"

After a couple of moments, a tired blue-haired Jorogumo opened the front door, "What...? What is it? Do you know what time it is?"

Komaeda huffed, "I know it's late, but I need your help with something. May I come in?"

Shirogane sighed, rubbing her eyes in annoyance, "This better be important."

Komaeda smiled, "I thought spiders were supposed to be nocturnal." He inquired, walking in the building.

"Don't question it," Shirogane sighed, letting her hair out from the loose bun if was previously in.

"So," she began, "What do you need?"

Komaeda walked around the room for a little bit before answering, "Oh! Uh... you're a being of magic, right?"

"All Yokai are, but go on."

The prince shook his head, "No. I mean, not like elemental magic or shapeshifting like me, you can do spells and curses and stuff, right?"

Shirogane narrowed her eyes suspiciously, "Yes... why do you ask?"

Komaeda fidgeted with his hakama, "Do you maybe know how to undo a curse...?"

...

"Komaeda-kun. What did you do?!"

"Wait wait wait! I didn't do anything!" Komaeda shouted, trying to get the girl to calm down.

"Let's say... hypothetically... I needed to undo a curse on an object... can you perhaps teach me how to do it?" He smiled awkwardly.

Shirogane stayed silent for a couple of moments before sighing and shaking her head, "I don't know, Komaeda-kun, you're asking for something I don't think I'm permitted to do."

The Zenko frowned, "What do you mean?"

"It's nothing personal, kid. But if the higher-ups find out I'm teaching you, a celestial being, dark magic, they could have me killed, and I don't know what they'll do to you!"

Komaeda bit his lip, "I'm doing it for a good reason, aren't I? I... I can be careful about it!"

Shirogane sighed again, "Even if I do agree to teach you, whether or not you can use the magic is a big factor in all this too." She said sternly.

"What do you mean?" Komaeda tilted his head in confusion.

She sighed and motioned the boy to follow her, "I don't know why you're suddenly interested in learning this type of magic, but some Yokai are just not able to perform it. Whether you're a Yokai of the season, like a Yukionna, or for something else." She explained, guiding Komaeda to a small library.

He sighed in slight frustration, following close behind the girl. Komaeda fiddled a bit with the sleeve of his kimono, watching as Shirogane pulled out a scroll.

"Cursed objects?"

"Yes."

She huffed a bit, opening the paper and blowing off any dust, "That's going to be quite a lot of work."

"What do you mean?" Komaeda asked, following Shirogane to a table and sitting down next to her.

Shirogane brushed her hair behind her shoulders and set down the scroll on the table, "You talk about cursed objects, and the whole idea of attempting to break a curse depends on a lot of factors. For starters, what object was cursed, how powerful said cursed is, what type of magic it was, and who cast it in the first place." She explained, holding up a finger each time she brought up a point.

The prince nodded, taking mental notes of what the girl was saying.

She sighed and rested her head on her hand, "Komaeda-kun, I could teach you this stuff for whatever reason you may need, but it's going to take time."

The prince took a moment to process what the spider had said before smiling brightly, "Really? You'll teach me?"

Shirogane nodded slowly, "Of course, but if I get in trouble, I'm coming for you."

Komaeda laughed nervously, "Still, I owe you one, Shirogane-san!"

"Yeah, you really do."

_____

"Hey..."

"Hey!"

"WAKE UP!"

"Gah-!"

Komaeda jumped forward quickly as a result of the shouting, "I'm up! What the heck?!"

The slightly irritated boy lifted his blanket up a bit to reveal where Hinata had been hidden.

"What were you doing up so late anyway?" Hinata asked, crossing his arms.

Komaeda yawned a bit, "I wasn't up that late, you're over-exaggerating."

"Am I?" Hinata retorted, tilting his head to the side, "Your sister, I assume, came in a couple of hours ago to wake you up, but you wouldn't get up, so she eventually gave up and left. Afterward, I decided to try and wake you up as well, but I was honesty starting to lose faith that you were still breathing." He sneered.

"You know, for a mirror, you sure have an attitude..." The prince sighed, "So, what time is it now?"

"Hm... I noticed you usually wake up around the time the sun had just finished rising beyond the horizon or during, and now the light of the sun is reflecting on top of my mirror a bit to the right, and quite brightly too. I would assume it had time to heat up the ground by now."

Komaeda frowned, "I asked for the time, Hinata-kun."

Hinata snarled, "I just did! It's well past noon, you idiot!"

...

"Ah, dear!"

Komaeda quickly stood up and scrambled out of his bed, throwing the mirror to the side, much to the other boy's dismay. After quickly getting ready and throwing on his day clothes, the Zenko quickly ran down the stairs into the dining hall.

"I missed the morning meeting! I am so sorry!" He yelled, flailing his arms.

"Nagito... well, NOW you're awake," Sonia mused, "I tried to get you to wake up hours ago."

He clapped his hands together and bowed his head apologetically, "Again, I'm sorry! I had trouble falling asleep last night!"

"If you were having nightmares, you could've asked Nanami-san for help," Enoshima said, who was sitting next to Sonia.

The princess smiled and nodded, "Of course! Nanami-san is great at what she does!"

Komaeda shook his head, "No, I wasn't having nightmares, I just... couldn't sleep."

Enoshima nodded a bit before sighing, "Well, now that you're awake, Hanamura-kun has some food for you in the kitchen. Hurry up and eat, you're hours behind schedule."

_____

Komaeda's schedule was already hefty enough, being behind schedule was enough to emotionally and physically drain him that day. Saying a tired goodnight to everyone, the white-haired Kitsune let his body fall on his futon, not bothering to change into his jinbei.

From the shelf Hinata was placed on, he began shouting a bit at Komaeda, "Hey, hey! You haven't changed your clothes yet! They're gonna get wrinkly and you're gonna wake up all sweaty!"

Komaeda groaned and looked over, "Oh my god... would you be quiet? You're gonna give yourself away," He sighed, slowly sitting back up, "I'll change in a bit, just calm down."

Despite that, Hinata continued to nag Komaeda as he slowly shuffled around the room. Once he was done changing, he walked over to the shelf and picked Hinata's mirror up, staring at him for a brief moment before pretending to let the handle slip from his hands.

"Whoops!"

"What the-?! Hey! Knock it off! I will destroy you!" Hinata yelled, slightly startled.

"But you can't." Komaeda teased, laughing a bit.

"Tch!" The brown-haired boy crossed his arms and looked away.

"Aw come on, Hinata-kun, don't be like that. I was only joking. Besides, I already promised you that I'll figure out a way to get you out of there."

"Hmph, fine," Hinata muttered, turning to look at Komaeda again, "If and when I do get out of here, then I'll be able to destroy you!"

The other boy shrugged dismissively, "Whatever floats your boat. Before I go to sleep, I actually have a question for you."

"Alright, lay it on me then." Hinata sighed.

"Being a spirit bound to a mirror, you don't have any necessities?"

He pondered for a moment before answering, "I guess... I guess if you keep me clean and don't let my glass crack, then I'll be satisfied. Oh! But you also have to talk to me!"

Komaeda nodded, "I can do that!" He giggled.

"Hmph, good." The brown-haired boy muttered, playing with the sleeve of his kimono.

The prince gave him a tired smile, "I'm sorry I couldn't talk much today, I'll make sure to make it up to you tomorrow!"

"Don't bother," Hinata shook his head, "Go to sleep instead. You look like you need it."

"Wait, what do you do when I'm not around?" Komaeda quickly asked.

"Absolutely nothing. What do you expect me to do?" Hinata replied sharply.

"So do you just wait for me to come back?"

Hinata's ears flattened a bit, "You gotta make it weird, huh? Yeah, I guess. Flatter yourself, why don't ya?"

Komaeda smiled a bit, "I'll try not to keep you waiting for long."

"Ugh, just go to sleep already!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, I am very sorry this chapter is very overdue! I was infected by the virus a little over a month ago, and during this time I've been sleeping and trying to recover. I'm fine now, but I am still sick, so updates may become a little slower than usual;/ Sorry for the inconvenience!!


	6. A Thousand Paper Cranes

Komaeda rested his head on the table and sighed.

"Is everything alright, Komaeda-kun?"

The boy sighed again and looked up at his spider friend, "No, I'm fine. I guess I'm just tired..."

Shirogane sighed, "If you want, we can be done for today. After all, you're not going to learn anything if you're tired." She pointed out.

The prince mumbled a bit and slowly sat up, rubbing his eyes, "I'm sorry, it's just been a long day. I guess... I guess you're right, though..."

Shirogane nodded and closed the book that was in front of her, "Then you can go home. I'm going to visit my family."

"Family? But I thought you were-"

"The last of my kind? Yeah, but that doesn't stop me from visiting them in the Spirit World."

"Spirit World..." Komaeda shook his head, "But if you could visit your family like that, how come you told me you were lonely?"

The girl shook her head, "I never said I was lonely. I said it gets hard sometimes. But as I said, I try not to look deeply into the negatives of my life."

The prince nodded slowly.

"Well then, enough chit chat. Why don't you go home and get some rest?"

_____

Komaeda slammed his fists on the wall in anger, "Dang it! Nothing is working! What if we can't figure this out?!"

He continued to mumble in anger to himself and paced around his room when Hinata piped up.

"Ehm, Komaeda. I understand what you're trying to do, and don't get me wrong, I really appreciate it, but you don't have to do this."

He looked over and grabbed the mirror, huffing slightly, "I know that, but I want to! I want to help you, and we're trying so hard!"

Hinata frowned, "Yes, but, you said it yourself, what if you won't figure it out? And even if you do, what will happen once I get out?"

Komaeda bit his lip, "We'll figure that part out once we get there. It... it may be a difficult process, but I already promised you I'll find a way!"

The brown-haired boy sighed, "Despite your meltdown, you seem very determined on keeping that promise, aren't you?"

The Zenko laughed awkwardly, "Is that a bad thing?"

Hinata shook his head, "I wouldn't say that. Personally, I admire that trait of yours, Komaeda."

The prince smiled a bit and looked down, feeling his cheeks heat up slightly, "U-um... thank you. I'm not exactly used to being complimented like that, hehe..."

The boy tilted his head to the side, "What do you mean?"

"It sorta felt genuine, I guess," Komaeda shook his head, "Nevermind that. The clock is ticking, so I better start working!"

He flashed Hinata a smile before hiding him a drawer and skipping out of the room. As he walked through the halls, he heard a few voices. Normally, Komaeda wasn't one to eavesdrop, but something compelled him to do otherwise.

He backed up a bit and carefully slid open the door to the room where he heard the disembodied voices from. He peered inside only to find Enoshima pacing around the room while a panicked Ikusaba attempted to calm her down.

"Mukuro, this is serious! What is another war starts?"

"Hey now... I'm sure it'll be fine, it'll all be fine. We'll probably find it soon." The black-haired girl said.

"And if we don't? What'll happen then? We can't afford to go into another war, this village can not survive another war!" The other Tengu retaliated.

War...?

Komaeda recoiled a bit, afraid that he was going to be seen. What do they mean another war? And what exactly are they trying to find?

"Look, I'm sure it'll turn up eventually. And besides, I'm sure no one will know how to use it." Ikusaba smiled a bit.

"Use it? Mukuro, if he-!"

"Wait a second, Junko," Ikusaba put her hand up to her sister's mouth, "I feel as though we're being watched."

Oh, crud.

Being as light on his feet as he could, Komaeda quickly ran back down the hall and into the library. He quickly slid the door closed behind him and sighed, hoping he wasn't seen.

"Uh, Nagito, are you alright?"

The prince almost screamed as he turned around to look over at his sister, who was sitting down folding paper. He sighed with relief and walked over to Sonia.

"What are you doing?" He asked, sitting down next to the girl.

"Not much, I've just been folding origami. Now, can you tell me what you were so frenzied about?"

Komaeda shook his head, "Nah. It's nothing really."

Sonia nodded slightly and hummed, handing her brother a piece of paper.

"Ah, thank you."

"No problem."

The two began to fold their origami in silence for a short while after that. Komaeda's eyebrows furrowed in frustration slightly before he finally sighed and turned over his sister.

"Sonia?"

"Hm?"

"Do you... do you feel as though our people are happy?"

The princess put her paper down and turned to Komaeda, "Why are you asking me that question? Are you okay?"

"Well, yeah, but I'm just worried, y'know..." he sighed.

"Well, I think they're perfectly fine. Mother is a peaceful empress, and there's plenty of resources as well, so I wouldn't understand why they wouldn't be happy." She explained, continuing her origami.

"I guess you're right about that, but I can't help but shake the feeling." He mumbled.

The blonde hummed a bit and brought the now complete origami crane to her brother's face.

Sonia smiled a bit before speaking, "Well, if you feel nervous, why don't you take with you? Legend has it the crane will bring good luck and fortune."

"Strength, success, happiness, and peace."

"Your heart's desire will come true."

"My heart's desire..." Komaeda looked at the small paper crane in his hand and sighed.

"Thank you, Sonia... I guess you're right..."

She giggled a bit and playfully punched him in the shoulder, "It's what siblings are for, right? You know you can talk to me about anything. I've been noticing you've been working harder, and I think you need to take a bit to relax."

She sighed and leaned back, looking out the window, "Worrying about the future isn't going to help you, so might as well enjoy with what the present has given us now."

She looked back at her brother and smiled, "Whatever is bothering you right now, I'm sure it's nothing. Whether or not people are happy, that's beyond your control. And, if you truly wish to fix it, then do exactly that. Wish on the paper crane, for peace and happiness."

Komaeda stared at Sonia for a moment before looking back down at the crane.

"Still, I don't believe you need the crane to achieve that. I believe you can do it on your own."

"What do you mean by that?" Komaeda asked, still looking down at the crane.

"You're worried about this because of the coronation, right? Well, when you do become emperor, I'm sure you'll be fine. Even still, that's far in the future, so maybe you should stop worrying about the future so much and focus on the present for now."

Komaeda nodded, "Yeah, yeah... I think I understand what you're saying..." He muttered a bit, rubbing one of the wings of the crane.

"My heart's desire..."


	7. Trust

Komaeda and Sonia ended up falling asleep in the library. The two leaned on each other for support until Sonia felt someone lightly shake her. She groaned a bit and, being a light sleeper, slowly opened and rubbed her eyes, shaking her brother awake as well.

He yawned a bit and opened his eyes a bit, a little agitated that he had been woken up as well.

"Hey... it's barely sunset... but if you two are tired, then you should go sleep in your rooms..." a soft voice said.

Once Sonia was mostly awake, she looked up to be greeted by Nanami, "O-oh... did we fall asleep? I didn't realize it. Thanks, Nanami-san..."

She nudged Komaeda a bit, who nodded and stood up, helping her up as well.

"Hmm... then I'll go back to my room," Komaeda sighed. They had fallen asleep for several hours, and Hinata was probably waiting for him.

"I might go spend some time in the garden. I-i-f you want, you can accompany me, Nanami-san." Sonia smiled a bit.

The Baku smiled a bit, but shook her head, "I would love to, but I'll need to start getting ready for the night work." She yawned a bit.

"That's fine... perhaps another time then." The princess smiled again before she and Komaeda left the library.

The two said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. Komaeda sighed a bit and headed back to his room, still holding the paper crane in his hand. He sighed again and shuffled into his bedroom, setting the crane down and opening his drawer.

The prince grabbed the mirror and shook it slightly, smiling when Hinata appeared.

"Where were you all day? You send you'd spend time with me!" The brown-haired boy huffed.

Komaeda smiled awkwardly, "Uhhh... sorry, Hinata-kun. I got sidetracked, I guess."

"Hmph," Hinata sighed, "Whatever, it's fine."

The Zenko frowned a bit, "Hey, I'm sorry. I'll spend more time with you tonight."

"I said it's whatever," He pouted a bit, "It's not like I care anyway..."

"Ehehe..." Komaeda laughed a bit.

The two continued to talk for a few minutes before the prince slowly began to stare more and more into space.

"Hey! Hey! Are you tired or something? You're staring off into space." Hinata pointed out.

Komaeda blinked and quickly shook his head, "No, no. I'm fine. I was just... thinking about something..."

"Thinking about what?"

He bit his lip before answering, "I'll be right back. Stay here, don't go anywhere." Komaeda quickly said, setting down the mirror.

"You're talking as if though I have a choice," Hinata grumbled.

The other male sighed a bit, "You know what I mean. Stay here and act like a mirror."

Hinata rolled his eyes and scoffed, but nodded anyway. Komaeda smiled a bit and quickly walked out of the room.

The prince played with his sleeves, sighing as he marched his way to the garden. Was this a good idea? Well, he hoped so. He needed as much help as he could get, but he also needed to protect Hinata.

As he approached the entrance to the garden, he paused for a moment, briefly rethinking his initial plan. Komaeda took a deep breath and decided to stop silent. It was just his sister, he could trust her.

Taking another deep breath, Komaeda opened the door, walking over to his sister who was tending to some flowers. He knelt down beside her and leaned forward a bit, "What are you up to?"

Sonia jumped a bit but quickly regained her composure, "Ah, not much. I was just making sure the flowers are still healthy." She sighed a bit before looking back at the flower bed.

The boy tilted his head a bit and cleared his throat awkwardly, "Well, uh... actually. I need to get something off my chest."

"Hm? What is it?"

"You said I can trust you with anything, right?"

At this point, the princess stopped what she was doing and looked over at Komaeda with slight concern in her eyes, "What has been bothering you?"

He scratched the back of his neck, "Actually, I think it'll be best if I show you instead. Come with me." The Zenko sighed, standing up.

Sonia nodded and stood up as well, brushing off any dust from her kimono, "Whatever it is, I'm sure it'll be fine."

_____

"Well, this certainly wasn't what I was expecting..."

A long silence followed before Hinata cleared his throat, "Ummm... nice to meet you?"

"Hinata-kun, this is my sister Sonia. Sonia, this is Hinata-kun..."

He handled the mirror over to her, who tilted her head in confusion, "Hinata-kun, eh? You're..."

"I'm a spirit bound to a mirror. Kind of. I was sort of trapped in here." He briefly explained.

"This is what was been bothering me for the past few weeks," Komaeda began, "I found his mirror by accident while I was on a stroll. Ever since then I've been trying to look for ways to get him out. I was thinking maybe you could try and help."

Sonia sighed a bit, "Okay, well... have you thought of smashing the mirror? Maybe if the glass is broken, the curse would be broken too."

"Well, we've kind of already established that would kill him, and we don't want to risk it."

She nodded, "Alright. You said you've been looking for ways to free him. What have you've been doing?" The girl asked, setting down the mirror.

"Do you know Shirogane Tsumugi?" Komaeda asked.

"The village tailor?"

He nodded, "She's been giving me lessons on how to do magic and spells beyond our basic field of knowledge. But so far, nothing she's shown me has worked..." he said sadly.

The blonde girl pondered for a moment, "Did you tell her what you needed the lessons for?"

"HAH! Of course not! I can't risk Hinata-kun getting hurt! You're the only other person who knows about this existence, and I trust that you'll keep this a secret!" Komaeda retorted sharply.

The girl tensed up a bit and looked over at Hinata, then back at her brother, "Fine. I'll keep this between us. And, I'll make sure to help the best I can."

Komaeda smiled brightly, "Thank you so much! You don't know how much this means!"

Hinata chuckled a bit, "Shouldn't I be the one to say that?"

The two royals looked over to the boy, who smiled a bit, "Thank you for everything. You both don't know me well, there's not much to me to know exactly. Yet you're trying so hard to set me free from this prison, so I should be the one to thank you."

Komaeda felt his cheeks heat up as he struggled to form words. Sonia laughed and waved her hand, "Don't mind him. We'll try our best, Hinata-kun. You seem nice, and I'm not sure why anyone would imprison you like this, but we'll make sure to get your freedom back."

Hinata smiled in appreciation.

"However, are you some sort of fluffy eared Bakeneko?" The girl asked.

Ironically enough, Hinata's ears flattened against his head at that question, "E-eh?! What's wrong with my ears?" He shook his head, "Whatever! No, I'm not a Bakeneko, or a Nekomata, if you're going to ask! I'm a Kitsune just like you guys."

"I've never seen a brown-haired Kitsune... that's interesting..."

"Yeah yeah, whatever! Next, you're gonna say something about how you've never seen a Kitsune with mismatched eyes! Jeez, you're just like your brother!"

Sonia laughed softly and turned to Komaeda, "Is he always like this?"

"Sadly, but you get used to it."

Hinata mumbled slightly and crossed his arms.

"Should we check the library?" She asked and turned to Komaeda.

"I already checked. There's nothing there." He sighed.

"It wouldn't hurt to check again! You have an extra pair of eyes this time, so maybe we'll find something!" The girl declared.

The prince nodded slowly and walked to Hinata, "Alright then. We'll be back, okay?"

The brown-haired boy nodded, "Okay. Good luck on your search."

"Will do."


	8. Stars

"Nagito."

"Hm?"

Sonia sighed and closed a book, setting it down at her side, "I know we both promised Hinata-kun we'll find a way to break whatever curse he's under, but there's one problem."

"What is it?"

"If we do manage to free Hinata-kun, and that's a big if, there's a high chance that he might perish."

Komaeda, who was flipping through a book previously, turned to look at his sister, "What? What do you mean by that?"

"Think about it. If Hinata is a Kitsune like he says he is, then his starball was taken. Kitsune can't survive too long without theirs, and Hinata-kun explained that his body acts as if it's the same day over and over again."

"Uh-huh... and what are you getting by that?" Komaeda asked.

"I assume once he's out, that loop would break, but it'll only be a matter of time before his body will begin to deteriorate."

Komaeda sighed, "So, I guess we can't help him?"

Sonia shook her head, "I didn't say we can't. We have to add another step!"

The prince's ears perked up, "Another step?"

"Yeah!" Sonia scooted closer to her brother, "A Kitsune's starball is essentially where their energy is stored. Because Hinata-kun is so, ehm, energetic, that means his starball hadn't shattered-"

"Because once a starball's broken, the Kitsune will immediately become extremely tired, and Hinata-kun doesn't seem tired."

Sonia nodded, "Where did you find him, exactly? Maybe his starball is somewhere near there."

Komaeda thought for a moment, "Hm... I found him while on a stroll in the forest, but once I did, I didn't take the time to finish looking around, heh heh..."

"Then I know what we're doing tonight. Help me put away the books."

The prince nodded and sat up. The two began cleaning the library and engaging in casual small talk when the doors suddenly burst open.

"I just knew you two would be in here! You almost always spend your time in the library!" A brown-haired tengu yelled, stretching out her wings.

"Ah, Owari-san. What a pleasant surprise." The princess laughed.

Owari grinned and grabbed each of the two Zenko by the arm, pulling them close and threw her arms over their shoulders, "For a couple of royals, you two are such shut-ins. You should go outside, let's play a game!"

Komaeda smiled a bit, "Actually Owari-san, Sonia and I were just about to head on a stroll. Now, shouldn't you be doing your job? You can't leave all the work to Junko and Mukuro now, can you?" He chuckled.

The Tengu sighed and let her arms fall to her side, "Awww, come on! Don't you want to play a game of Hanetsuki with me, Komaeda-sama? It'll be good exercise!"

"No, no, thank you. But thanks for the offer." The prince smiled.

"Maybe you can ask someone else around the castle, Owari-san. We're not the only ones you can talk to. Besides, Nagito and I have plans for tonight."

Owari straightened up and nodded, "Alright then! I will escort you two out."

"It's okay. It's been nice talking to you, Owari-san." Komaeda waved briefly and walked out of the library, Sonia following not long after."

Owari sighed and put her hands on her hips, shaking her head slightly. She turned to leave the library but ended up tripping on a book one of the Zenko had accidentally left out. The Tengu picked up the book and flipped through it, "What is so exciting about reading anyway...?"

_____

"I'm just hoping she didn't get suspicious of us." Sonia sighed, closing the door to Komaeda's room.

"I don't think she did. We can't risk her seeing Hinata-kun anyway."

"Wait, we're bringing him with us?"

"Bringing me where?" Hinata asked as Komaeda pulled him out of the drawer.

"We're going on a little stroll, and I thought it would be nice to take you with us," Komaeda said.

"Ah, I appreciate the thought, but in case you haven't noticed, I'm a mirror." Hinata sighed.

"That doesn't mean you can't enjoy the scenery. Besides, we need you in case you remember what your starball looks like."

"My starball?"

Sonia nodded, "If we're going to free you, we'll need your starball so you won't die the moment you get out."

"Don't all starballs look almost the same?" Hinata asked.

"Not exactly," Komaeda began, handing the mirror to Sonia, "We're going back to the forest to see if it was there where I found you. Once we find it, it's back to getting you out of there." He finished, slipping on his haori.

"Alright, be quiet, okay? We're sneaking out." Komaeda told Hinata, slipping him under the haori. He crossed his arms and nodded to Sonia, who proceeded to open the window. The two carefully climbed out and hovered down, trying to keep their faces somewhat covered.

Once the two were on the ground, they proceeded to creep around the walls near the field, where the entrance to the forest was on the other side. Sonia looked around a bit and nodded to her brother before the two ran across to the forest entrance. After they made sure they were fully hidden, Komaeda took Hinata out from under his haori.

"How are you holding up?"

"Uhm, I'm doing okay, I guess."

Komaeda nodded and held the mirror out, "Can you see okay?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Alright, so where did you find him exactly?"

Komaeda sighed, "It's kind of a long walk. I got to the end of the path, but I continued walking in a straight line until I just, found him, I guess."

She nodded and began walking ahead, "We should start walking if we want to get home before anyone notices we're gone."

_____

"She sells seashells, see shell- she shell- ugh!"

Komaeda giggled a bit, "I told you it was hard to say, Hinata-kun."

"Hmph, whatever." The brunette muttered, looking around.

"I didn't realize how long this path was..." The prince muttered, "Hey, can you hold on to Hinata-kun for me? My arms are getting tired."

Sonia nodded and took the mirror from her brother's hands. Hinata squeaked a bit but otherwise remained quiet. Komaeda smiled and began looking around more.

"Oh! There!"

"Huh?"

Sonia and Hinata watched as Komaeda jogged over some nearby bushes and effortlessly pulled one out.

"A fake bush? That's convenient."

He shrugged a bit, "I didn't question it. Anyway, this is where I found Hinata-kun, come on." He urged her on as he walked into the clearing. An audible gasp was heard from Sonia as Hinata sighed sadly.

"Don't worry, Hinata-kun. Hopefully, we won't be here too long."

Sonia tucked Hinata's mirror into her obi by the handle and walked over to Komaeda, who was already messing around the abandoned shrine.

"This is quite a big shrine. Do you think we'll be able to find it tonight? If it's even here?" Sonia asked.

"I'm sure. Hinata-kun, what time is it?"

"Hmmm..." Hinata looked up for a moment, "It's about... half-past eight at night."

"They check the rooms at around ten. We have plenty of time." Komaeda reassured her.

"Woah... How did you do that?" Sonia asked.

"Hm? Well, I check what position the moon is in and what angle the shadows are at. It's a little difficult without a sundial, but I can get a pretty good estimate." He explained.

"Okay, enough talking. Get to searching."

"Ugh... we should have brought gloves. Er, I should have brought gloves. I don't have freakishly long sleeves like some people I know." Sonia sighed.

Komaeda chuckled, "I like how it looks. Plus, I think the way they move around if kind of cute, don't you?"

The princess sighed, "Well, it's certainly going to look suspicious if you suddenly get them all dirty." She tossed a piece of charred wood aside.

"Hmm... I wonder what happened here..."

"Well it's not like I remember, so don't bother asking!" Hinata huffed.

Komaeda groaned, "Did you find anything yet, Sonia?"

"No... Do you see anything shiny, Hinata-kun? You seem to have a good eye."

He shook his head, "The only thing shiny I see is the light reflecting off my rim."

The Zenko princess hummed in response, "Then we'll continue looking."

____

Komaeda let out a long sigh and wiped the sweat off his brow, "Hey uh, what time is it?"

"By the looks of it, it's nearly ten."

"Nearly ten?!" Sonia stood up, "Why didn't you tell us?!"

"You didn't ask!"

"Why you-!"

"Okay, now's not the time to argue!" Komaeda screamed, snatching Hinata's mirror and stuffing it in his haori, "We need to get home before they find out we're missing!"

The two began running back towards the trail out. It was already a long walk, and they weren't supposed to go too far out anyway. Even if they did have an excuse for sneaking out, it wasn't going to be a valid one. That is, if they were caught.

"If we get caught, we're dead! We're goners!" Sonia yelled.

"It's not like they check our rooms immediately first. If we make it before then, we'll be okay!"

Slowly the two began losing the energy to speak. As they made it to the field they slowed their pace slightly, trying not to make too much noise. The siblings climbed up the wall as quickly as they could and fell through the window onto their stomachs.

Moments later the door slide open and Nanami poked her head in, "Ah, there you are, Sonia-sama. Uh... why are you on the floor?"

"Uh..." Sonia huffed and slowly got on her knees, "Uh, we were... we were exercising..."

"I guess that explains why you're so out of breath... Take a shower before you two go to sleep, and make sure to close the window. Well then, good night..."

The two gave a breathless good night as the Baku closed the door.

"Whew... crisis averted..." Komaeda sighed and dropped his head on the floor.

"Not quite..."

"Why do you say that?"

"Nagito...?"

"Mhm?"

"I think you're laying on Hinata-kun..."


	9. Crystals and Light

...

"Oh, gosh!"

Komaeda quickly sat up and dusted himself off, grabbing the mirror and holding it up.

"Don't worry, I think he's okay... I didn't hear a crack or anything." Sonia reassured.

Still slightly frantic, the prince checked over the mirror before speaking up, "Ehhh? Are you okay, Hinata-kun?! Your glass is cracked!"

"Wait what?!" Sonia scooted closer over to him, overlooking the now cracked hand mirror.

"Oh no... uhh... it's just a small crack, I should be fine." Hinata smiled nervously.

"I'm so sorry!" Komada shouted, standing up, "Oh... what are we going to do?"

"Well, as long as he doesn't completely shatter, I think he'll be fine..." The girl sighed, fiddling with her sleeve nervously, "if Hinata-kun says it's okay, I say we should trust him."

The prince frowned and sighed as he silently paced the room, with Hinata awkwardly looking around. Sonia mumbled and bit her thumbnail as she thought of ways to calm her brother down. During this prolonged and uncomfortable silence, Hinata spoke up rather harshly.

"Hey!"

"What's wrong?"

Komaeda brought Hinata's mirror to eye level, and, to his surprise, found the brown-haired boy glaring daggers at him, "Hinata-kun, I'm so sorry-"

"No! Stop talking! I wanna ask you two something!" He snarled, "You told me that we went back to the forest back to my... shrine to look for my starball!"

"Uh, yeah, we did. Is there a problem with that?" Sonia asked sheepishly.

"Yes! After all that, would you kindly explain to me why my starball is in Komaeda's room?!"

"Huh?!"

Hinata sighed, "Since I'm usually stuck in Komaeda's drawer all day, I don't get to see much of what his bedroom looks like. But now that he kept pacing around, I finally got a chance to look around, so do you mind telling me why he has my starball just lying on his shelf?!"

...

"Nagito. What is he saying?"

"How am I supposed to know! Last time I checked, the last starball I had was mine!"

Sonia sighed loudly and walked over to the shelf Hinata was alluding to. After some rummaging, she soon returned with a small, bluish ball in her hands.

"This?"

Hinata nodded.

"This is your starball? It looks so different from ours! How could you expect us to look at it and figure it out right away?" Komaeda asked.

"You said it yourself! That starballs look different from others! So obviously you'd know mine is different from yours! What color is your starball?" Hinata retorted.

"Golden!"

"So you would know mine isn't that color!"

"That doesn't prove anything!"

"Would you two be quiet?!" Sonia suddenly snapped, "If you get any louder someone will come to check on us."

Komaeda sighed, "I don't understand," he began, "Enoshima gave that to me. If it really is Hinata-kun's starball, how would she even have it in the first place?"

"Eno... grr, whatever! Just gimme it back!" Hinata yelled.

"Hold on. First, we need to figure out how to actually give it back to him." The princess muttered.

Clink!

"Nagito!"

"What? I thought tapping the glass with it would give him the energy to break free himself."

"That's not it would- at least you tried... If only it was that easy."

The white-haired boy sighed, tracing the small crack in Hinata's mirror for a moment, "Hinata-kun?"

"What?"

"What exactly are you made of?"

The Kitsune tilted his head, "Huh? What do you mean?"

The prince scratched his head, "As far as I'm concerned, mirrors weren't developed until our era, and you said you came before that time, so what exactly are you made of?"

Hinata bit his lip, trying to think of a quick explanation, "I think what you're referring to is your more modern mirror," he said, motioning towards the full-length mirror in Komaeda's room, "Actually, mirrors have been around since ancient times, but as far as I'm concerned, we just called it looking glasses. I only started calling myself a mirror because you did that when we first encountered each other. Oh! My rim and handle are made out of silver, while my glass is made of melted crystal."

Sonia was walking around the room listening to their conversation when she gasped, "I think I have an idea?"

"Was that a question or a statement?" Komaeda asked, turning around to face her.

"A statement! A statement! Hinata-kun, do you know what crystal your glass is made of?" She asked.

The boy shook his head, "Nope. Sorry. Can't help you there."

"Hmmm, I guess that's okay though."

"Why are you asking?" Her brother asked.

"Well, unlike him, your mirror is made of glass. Glass mirrors- and any mirror for that matter- can absorb light." She began.

"Uh-huh. And?"

"Since Hinata-kun is technically a mirror, that means he's technically made of light. So, maybe, if we try, we can use the light to manipulate the full-length mirror into absorbing Hinata-kun's spirit."

"Eh?! That sounds kind of painful..." Hinata muttered.

The girl shook her head, "Even if it did, crystals are known to have some type of healing property, so even if Hinata-kun does get somewhat hurt, it wouldn't be too much."

Komaeda smiled wryly, "That sounds outlandish enough it might just work."

She smiled, "Light bends all time, it should be easy! Nagito, maybe we've been approaching this the wrong way..."

"What do you mean?"

"We don't need to use magic, we just need to use simple science! If we can get his reflection to reflect off something else, maybe it'll be easier to get him out of the mirror entirely!"

He laughed softly, "Well, we can certainly try in the morning. Right now, we should go to sleep."

"Ah, right. Well, good night!"

"Good night."

...

Komaeda sighed, setting down the mirror and starball.

"What's wrong now?"

"Nothing's wrong, Hinata-kun. I'm just tired." Komaeda said, picking up the mirror, "I'll go freshen myself up and go to sleep. You should be excited. Tomorrow, we might be a couple of steps closer to getting you out of there." The prince smiled.

Hinata nodded, though frowning a bit and sighing, "Let's hope it works."

"I'm sure it will. Sonia is pretty smart."

He nodded, "I guess I still somewhat trust you guys."

Komaeda frowned, "I'm sorry about the thing with your starball, but hey! At least we found it. So what if we wasted two hours of our lives looking for it? At least it's here now."

"Yeah yeah. You should go wash yourself now."

_____

Komaeda was rudely awoken by someone shaking him. He groaned and slapped their hand away and rolled over.

"Nagito. Get up."

"N...no..."

Sonia crossed her arms, "Come on! We only have a few hours before the sun moves away from the position we need it!"

"Mmm... what time is it...?"

"It's 5:15 AM."

"Huh?! Why are you waking me up so early?" He asked.

"Come on. You usually get up around 8 AM. Besides, we need to get ready. Sunrise only lasts about two minutes, so we need to get this done."

Komaeda sighed, slowly sitting up and stretching. "Fine... fine."

Sonia shuffled around and opened the curtain, the sun light barely peeking through.

"Light can bend incredibly easily. The hard part will be getting it to bend the right way." She muttered.

Komaeda yawned and grabbed Hinata's mirror and starball, walking over to her slowly, "And, why did you move my mirror?"

"Huh? Oh, we need the light to hit it directly so the mirror can absorb it."

"Yeah, but what about Hinata-kun? How are we supposed to get him from this mirror to the next?"

The girl sighed, "We need to find a way for this mirror to absorb the light from his. Then maybe- just maybe- it'll work."

"Maybe?"

"Come on, Nagito! You didn't doubt me last night, why are you doubting me now?"

"I don't know..." Komaeda sighed, "What if he gets hurt?"

"I can't feel pain," Hinata pointed out, "At least I don't think so..."

"That doesn't make me feel any better."

Sonia huffed, snatching the mirror from her brother's hands, "Don't worry! I'm positive it'll work! We've tried everything else up to this point, so it's all or never!"

The prince slugged his shoulders but nodded anyway. The girl motioned him to step back and he did so. Once the sun began to rise, Sonia held Hinata's mirror up as Komaeda watched. They remained silent during the duration of the two minutes, and it wasn't something too magnificent to look at. They just waited until the sun had risen, and until the sunlight wasn't at the angle they needed anymore, she lowered the mirror.

"...did it work? It didn't look like anything happened," Komaeda said.

Sonia remained quiet. The Zenko prince quickly grabbed the hand-held mirror and gently shook it, something he'd do whenever he wanted Hinata's presence. When nothing happened, the two exchanged a worried look.

"Do you think we killed him?"

Before Komaeda could get his answer, a disembodied hand suddenly slammed against the glass of the other mirror, causing both the royal to scream. Though they quickly covered their mouths as they realized it was still early. Hinata's reflection soon materialized in the mirror, seemingly breathing heavily.

The prince smiled and stood up, "It worked! Oh, and Hinata-kun has legs!"

"Of course I have legs!"

"How are you feeling?" Sonia asked as she stood up as well.

"Eh... I feel mostly okay. I don't feel any different." He muttered.

"Well, now that it looks like you're standing right in front of us as if you were here with us, it might be easier to actually bring you back!" Komaeda smiled.

Hinata tilted his head, "Do you think it's that simple?"

The princess nodded, "Possibly. I mean, look at you now. And all we had to do was mess with light and absorption."

The brown-haired boy smiled slightly, looking down, "I'm glad."

"And now that we conveniently have your starball, I'm sure it'll be much easier to think of a solution, so don't you worry Hinata-kun!" Komaeda smiled brightly.

"Heh. I'll try not to."


	10. Shattered Glass

Komaeda had fallen back asleep after Sonia left. He woke up a little later than usual, feeling more energized than usual. Once he had awoken though, he remained to lie in bed for a while, smiling up at the ceiling. After a while, the prince sat up and began preparing for the day.

"Good morning, Hinata-kun!"

"Oh, good morning, Ko. You seem lively today."

"Ahh... what's with the nickname all of a sudden?"

Hinata rubbed his arm, "Do you not like it? I thought it would be nice."

The prince shook his head, "Oh no, I like it! It just surprised me a little." He hummed and began taking off his shirt, before suddenly realizing something.

"Uhhh... Hinata-kun...?"

...

"Oh! Sorry!" He said, quickly covering his eyes with his hands, "Geez, don't you have a screen or something?! Why do you have to change out in the open like that?!"

"Hm? Well, it's my room, can't I do what I want?"

Hinata grumbled, "Well- hurry up!"

"Alright alright, and keep your voice down. Someone's going to hear you."

After a few embarrassing minutes for Hinata, Komaeda had finished changing into a casual yukata and allowed the other boy to uncover his eyes again.

The white-haired male walked over to him and extended his arms slightly, "So? How do I look?"  
"Eh? Why are you asking me?"

"Well, I usually look in the mirror to make sure I look okay, but now that you're occupying it, I figured I'd ask your advice."

The brunette sighed and crossed his arms, "Hmph! You look decent."

The prince laughed softly and nodded, "Hmmm... I'll take that. Thank you, Hinata-kun." He smiled.

Hinata looked away, "Yeah yeah."

"Well, I have to go to break- wait..."

"Eh? What's wrong?"

"Uhh, I haven't thought of this until now, but, how are we going to keep you hidden now?'

"You know I can disappear, right?" Hinata asked, "It'll be fine."

"I guess so, but..." Komaeda began, grabbing his blanket and throwing it over the mirror, "There!"

"Wah-?! H-hey! That's not funny! Get your blanket off of me! It's gonna look suspicious if you keep me like this! I don't like the dark! Hey, hey! Komaedaaaa!"

The Zenko laughed and carefully pulled the blanket back, "What gives? I heard that if you put a blanket over a bird in its cage, it'll shut up."

"What's that supposed to mean?! I'm not a bird!" Hinata yelled.

"Okay, okay! I'm sorry! Just... please keep your voice down, seriously. I have to go to breakfast now, so don't do anything that might draw attention to you, okay? Goodbye." Komaeda waved.

"Goodbye..."

_____

While eating breakfast, Komaeda listened quietly to others talk amongst themselves in different areas of the room. His ear twitched slightly, trying to get a good hearing on what they had to say; he and Sonia preparing to get their military training, etcetera. Nothing that interested him too much, or anything that may have alluded to Hinata.

Now that he had more time to think of it, Enoshima had begun to avoid him more, as well as Ikusaba to some extent. Maybe it had been a coincidence, Komaeda had been spending the majority of his free time conversing with Hinata or being mentored by Shirogane ever since he had encountered the spirit.

As he was finishing his rice, Sonia suddenly spoke up, "Hey, Nagito?"

"Mm?"

"Do you mind accompanying me to the village today? I have things to do."

The prince tilted his head slightly but nodded anyway.

"Oh... do you... want me to go with you two?" a sleepy voice suddenly spoke up behind Sonia, "So no one will cause you trouble..."

The princess quickly turned around and smiled at the Baku, "That's very sweet of you, Nanami-san, but I prefer we go alone this trip."

"Ah... is that so?"

"May we be excused?"

"Certainly."

_____

"You're not one to turn down spending time with Nanami-san, what are you up to?" Komaeda asked as the two walked down the path.

"I want to buy something that may help with freeing Hinata-kun."

"Eh? Really?" His ears perked up in excitement, "What is it?"

The blonde girl smiled awkwardly, "Let's discuss that when we get home, shall we?"

"Ehehe... right..."

Sonia rolled her eyes playfully and entered the store they were walking to. Once inside, they were greeted by a pink-haired Aoandon boy, which Komaeda thought was a bit weird, since Aoandon usually had different hues of blue hair.

"Yo! Honored to have the royal siblings present in my humble little shop! By the way, the name's Soda Kazuichi! If ya need anything, just let me know." He grinned.

"Sonia, this is a hardware store..."

She nodded, "Yep! I'm sure we'll be able to find what we need somewhere in here. So, help me look for it." She said, beginning to walk off.

"You didn't even tell me what you were looking for..." The prince sighed and turned his head to the merchant, "I like your hair!"

"Oh, thanks, man! Dyed it myself!" Soda smiled.

"Ooh, so it's not your natural hair color? That makes more sense."

"Excuse me, Soda-san, was it? May I ask where your blowtorches are?" Sonia suddenly appeared by her brother.

Blowtorches...?

"Of course! Right this way, M'lady!" the boy guided them off in a different direction.

Komaeda bit his lip and played with his sleeve nervously, "Uh, Sonia? What do you need a blowtorch for?"

"You'll see!" The princess smiled brightly.

I desperately hope you know what you're doing...

_____

Nighttime had now fallen, and Sonia still wouldn't tell her brother what she was planning. Hinata watched curiously as the girl pulled out a blowtorch, two face shields, and a pair of gloves.

"What's that?"

"It's a blowtorch! We're going to use it to get you out of there!" She declared proudly.

Hinata looked puzzled, "How?"

"Yeah, what exactly do you plan to do? You still haven't told me what your plan is, Sonia." Komaeda pointed out.

"Simple! We're gonna use it to help break the glass!"

"What?!"

"What?! Sonia, we've already-!"

"I know, I know. Breaking the glass might kill Hinata-kun. But I've noticed he can touch the glass from his side of the mirror, almost like the mirror itself is acting as a barrier between two worlds. If breaking the mirror from the outside in harms Hinata-kun, what about breaking it from the inside out?"

The white-haired boy tilted his head in confusion, "How?"

"Instead of us trying to break it, what if Hinata-kun breaks it instead?"

He shook his head, "That doesn't explain why you need a blowtorch for that."

"Actually," Sonia began, putting on the gloves and handing one of the face shields to Komaeda, "I reckon Hinata-kun can't break the mirror on his own. So, using the blowtorch, we can melt the glass a slightly, causing it to soften, therefore it would be easier for Hinata-kun to break it!"

"Sonia, this is way more outlandish than your previous theory! What if you burn the place down?"

"Don't worry, it's fine," She said, pulling the face shield down, "By the way, did you lock the door?"

The prince sighed, pulling down his own face shield, "Yes."

"Alright, then let's do this! Get ready, Hinata-kun!"

"Wait! I didn't-!"

But it was too late. The moment Sonia turned on the machine was the moment Komaeda closed his eyes. Blue fire was hotter than red fire, that's all he knew. He hoped Sonia knew what she was doing, at least more than he did. The boy listened to the sound of the fire for an agonizing few seconds until it died down. Slowly, Komaeda opened his eyes and looked at the mirror. Hinata seemed fine. Everything seemed fine.

"Um..."

Sonia exhaled deeply and pulled the face shield off, "Okay, Hinata-kun. Try to break it."

"But I-"

"Try to break it before it cools down!"

The boy yelped and nodded, pressing his body against the glass, banging on it repeatedly with his hands. Komaeda watched nervously as Sonia furrowed her eyebrows in frustration.

"Okay, I think we need to apply more heat-"

"NO!" Hinata yelled, now banging his fists hard on the glass, "Don't you dare do that again! I swear-!"

CRASH!

THUD!

Komaeda quickly grabbed Sonia's arm and pulled her back, not wanting to get cut by the falling glass shards. The two squeezed their eyes shut for a short moment before the girl slowly opened her eyes again.

"Oh my goodness!" She yelled, dropping the blowtorch and face shield on the ground, as well as throwing off the gloves.

"Wait a second, how did that actually work?" Komaeda asked, walking towards the boy who was lying in the middle of a pile of glass shards.

"Don't ask me how it worked, just help me get him up! And make sure he doesn't cut himself on the glass!"

"Nnhhh..." The brunette groaned as the two Zenko helped stand him up by grabbing each of his arms.

"Hinata-kun...?"

Hinata's legs shook violently as Sonia lost her grip and he fell into the other's arms. Komaeda's body tensed as he felt his face heat up, Woah... we're so close... and he's actually here...! Why do I... feel so strange...?

There was suddenly a loud knock on the door and Enoshima's voice sounded, "Nagito-sama? Is your sister in there with you? What are you two doing, I heard a lot of loud noises!"

"Oh no...!" Sonia whispered, "We can't let anyone see him, hide him somewhere...!"

Komaeda quickly snapped out of his thoughts and nodded, stepping over the glass and leading the other boy to the bathroom.

"Hi, Enoshima! What do you need?"

"I came to- what the heck are you two doing with a blowtorch? Why is that mirror broken? More importantly, how did you manage to break it like that?!"

As the princess struggled to form words to answer the numerous questions being thrown at her, the prince quickly came out of the bathroom and approached the Tengu, "We're doing science experiments, duh!"

"At 9 PM at night?"

"Uhhhhhh... Yes?"

The pigtailed girl crossed her arms, "You know it's getting way too late for that, and you need to get to bed soon. As punishment for your recklessness, you two will be cleaning this mess up yourselves."

Komaeda smiled and began pushing Enoshima out of the room, "Yep! Okay! Noted! Don't mess with our science! Good niiiight~!" He quickly said and shoved her out, slamming the door in front of her.

Sonia sighed heavily in relief as her brother scurried to grab Hinata's starball. The two quickly entered the bathroom where he had been leaning against the tub.

"Thank you..." the Kitsune said as Komaeda handed him the starball.

"I can't believe it, you're here! With us! Ah jeez, all this time I spent learning different magic when all I needed was a blowtorch." He complained.

Hinata laughed softly, "Well, Sonia blasting me in the face with fire definitely didn't make me happy, so maybe that was a contribution. Still, I- I don't- Thank you..."

The siblings smiled before Sonia spoke up, "Hinata-kun, what about your legs?"

The brunette looked down and wiggled his legs slightly, "Well, I can move them, but I haven't been using them lately. I'm sure they'll get their strength back eventually."

She smiled, "That's good, but now what should we do? It's not like we can keep him hidden away in your bathroom forever." She then pointed out, looking at Komaeda.

"Hm... I think I know someone willing to help us. Get my cloak, we're sneaking out."


	11. Friendly Faced Fox

Sonia scrambled over back to the bathroom and handed Komaeda his cloak, who draped it over Hinata's shoulders.

"What are you planning to do?" She asked.

"I'll tell you later. You should probably leave now before anyone gets anymore suspicious. Make sure once you come back no one else is around. I’ll clean up the shards and help Hinata-kun with his legs. Oh! And knock once, then twice, then three times so we know it’s you.”

The girl nodded, “Alright, see you later then.”

“See you later.”

Sonia waved quickly and left the room, leaving the boys alone together. Hinata tugged slightly on the cloak before speaking up, “Um…”

Komaeda turned to him, “Is something wrong?”

“No, nothing’s wrong, but how are you going to get me out of here if I can’t walk?”

The Zenko bit his lip, “I guess since you haven’t used your legs in a while they might be a bit weak. Can you feel them at all?” He asked, extending his hands to help the brown-haired Kitsune up.

Hinata nodded, “I can, but they feel really weak. It’ll take time to get used to my body weight again…”

“Can you fly?”

“Huh?”

“Can you use any of your magical abilities, Hinata-kun?”

“Uh, I’m not sure I can… sorry, Ko.” The boy muttered, his legs beginning to shake again.

“No, it’s fine. Here, let me get you to the futon.”

Hinata nodded and held on tightly to the other boy for support. Komaeda swallowed hard and hesitantly wrapped his arm around the other’s waist, carefully helping walk to the other side of the room while avoiding stepping on the glass shards. The brunette sat down on the futon and watched as the prince quickly began cleaning up the mess he and Sonia had made.

He began spacing out for a short while until Komaeda suddenly called out his name.

“Do you need anything, Hinata-kun? Like a glass of whatever or something?”

“Huh? No, I’m fine, thanks.”

The prince smiled at him and threw the remains of the glass shards in a trash bin, “Can you stand up on your own?”

“I can try..” Hinata muttered, turning his body over and slowly getting up on his knees.

The Zenko watched silently as he struggled to get up, using the wall for support. Hinata huffed in annoyance and shakily began walking along the wall, taking careful steps in deep focus.

“Hey- don’t hurt yourself, I can help if you-”

“No! I can do it on my own! My legs don’t hurt, they’re just a little weak…” Hinata snapped.

Komaeda sighed and nodded, “Okay then, I’ll take your word for it. For now, we need to wait until Sonia gets back. We can work on getting strength back in your legs in the meantime.”

The boy sighed and leaned against the wall, “I don’t want to worry you, Ko. I should be fine after a couple of days.”

“Well, what are you going to do in the meantime? It’s not like I can keep you trapped in my room all day. That defeats the purpose of us freeing you from that mirror in the first place! And plus, if someone sees you like that-”

“Like what?”

Komaeda sighed, “Now that I look at you, it’s pretty obvious that you’re a kitsune. But no other Kitsune in this village has hair as dark as you do. You’ll stick out.”

Hinata frowned when there was suddenly a knock on the door.

…

……

“Uhhh…?”

“Nagito-sama!”

“Oh no…!”

“Who’s-!”

Before Hinata could finish asking his question, Komaeda picked him up and quickly walked back to the bathroom.

“What are you-!”

“Shhh!”

He sat the confused boy back down on the bathroom floor and quickly ran out, closing the door in the process. From the bathroom, Hinata could hear Komaeda frantically open the door and talk with someone else. It was hard for him to hear, but he could only assume the other person was a female- and definitely not Sonia. The brunette listened to the two argue for a couple of minutes before the voices began to come closer. He gasped sharply and quickly looked around.

Komaeda followed Enoshima angrily as she made her way to the bathroom, “I don’t understand what the problem is? Get out of my room, you leech!”

“Why are you being so defensive, eh? Are you hiding something?” She snapped back, opening the bathroom door.

The white-haired boy’s eyes widened slightly, but he remained silent. The tengu looked around suspiciously at the otherwise empty bathroom and hummed lowly. Though it was hard to see, the faint light from the candles from the main room was enough to see the outlines of everything. Komaeda titled his head in confusion before Enoshima sighed.

“Well then. I guess I mistrusted you. If it’s just a misunderstanding, goodnight Sir.” She apologized and walked out.

The boy blinked hard and quickly began to escort her out, “Apology accepted! Now if you don’t mind, stop barging into my room! Please and thank you! Good NIGHT!” He huffed and slammed the door angrily, locking it in the process.

The prince waited until the footsteps of his protector slowly faded away, and he allowed himself to breathe again. Komaeda frowned and quickly walked back to the bathroom, that still appeared to be empty, or so it seemed.

“Hinata-kun…?”

“Is- is it safe to come out?”

“Where are you?”

“In here…”

Komaeda turned his head over to the furo, which he heard Hinata’s voice come from. After a couple of moments, a little brown fox poked his head out from the furo. The Zenko’s eyes widened a bit as he walked over and picked up the fox.

“Hinata-kun! Is that you? I thought you couldn’t use your abilities.”

“I think I needed some time for my body to heal itself… but in the heat of the moment I kind of panicked, and well, just did it I guess…”

He held the other boy in his hands for a short while before laughing softly, “Hehe… you’re so tiny!”

Hinata growled and bit down on Komaeda’s thumb, causing him to nearly drop the tiny canine.

“Ow! Hey! You can switch out of that form now you know, or can you walk like that?”

“I can try.”

He nodded and set the fox down, allowing him to stand on all fours. Hinata’s ear twitched as he waddled around the bathroom. It was hard for Komaeda to tell his expression, but other than that, Hinata seemed fine. After a while, the two heard a single knock on the door.

Then two knocks…

...then three.

With a sigh of relief, Komaeda swiftly went to open the door for Sonia. She stepped in as her brother locked the door again. Something the two didn’t expect, however, was for Hinata to walk out of the bathroom- in his typical humanoid form- walking.

“Hey, do you feel okay, Hinata-kun?” Komaeda asked, walking over to him.

“Ah, yeah- they still feel a bit wobbly though, but I think I got used to my own body weight.”

The boy nodded and pulled the hood of the cloak over Hinata’s head, “That’s fine. Lean on me or Sonia when you need the support. We should be heading out now.”

“Where are we going?” The girl asked, lighting a gas lantern and preparing to put out the candles.

“Out in the village. I know someone who can help.”

“Who?”

“You’ll see. Just trust me on this.”

_____

“Shirogane! Shirogane-san! Open up!”

After a couple of moments, the door to the quaint tailor shop opened, and the tired spider girl leaned against the frame, “I feel like we’ve done this once before. What do you want now?”

Komaeda stepped to the side, allowing the jorogumo to take a look at the mysterious figure leaning against Sonia’s shoulder.

“Oh my! Come inside quickly!” Shirogane escorted the three inside and closed the door behind her, then proceeded to light a couple of candles to light the room.

“What do you need? Who is this?”

The prince put his hand up to calm the blue-haired girl down.

“This is Hinata-kun… Uh, we need your help with something, Shirogane-san.”

“What’s wrong? Is he from another village?”

“You could say that…” The blonde girl muttered.

“Huh…?”

Slowly and silently, Hinata lowered his hood, revealing the dark brown hair hidden underneath. Shirogane’s eyes widened in disbelief and she muttered something almost inaudible.

“Ka…” she shook her head, “No, that’s impossible- where did you find this boy?”

“It doesn’t matter where we found him, but we need your help. He’s our friend and he has nowhere else to go. Please, Shirogane-san…” Komaeda begged.

The girl looked at the three Kitsune, all of which had pleading looks in their eyes. Hesitantly, Shirogane nodded.

“Alright, I’ll help. But first, we need to change your hair color and get you out of those clothes.”

“Eh? What’s wrong with my clothes?” Hinata asked. Then, he slowly looked around the room. Shirogane was already in her jinbei, but Komaeda and Sonia were wearing warm and muted colors, which sharply contrasted the dark and vivid colors of his own kimono.

“...Oh.”

“Come with me.” The jorogumo said, extending her hand to Hinata, “You two stay here.”

The siblings stayed silent as the girl led him to the backroom. They waited for a couple of minutes, standing around in silence looking around at the articles of clothing displayed within the shop.

“What do you think Shirogane-san would do to make Hinata-kun blend in more?” Komaeda asked.

The girl shrugged, “I don’t know. Maybe give him a change of clothes… dye his hair… maybe she’ll do something about his mismatched eyes too.”

He hummed a bit in thought and looked at the floor when Shirogane finally brought Hinata to present to the royals.

“It took a bit of work, but I think he’s ready!” She exclaimed.

“Oh, how wonderful! How does he- uhhhhhhh….” Komaeda looked up, only to find himself staring at the Kitsune standing before them.

Hinata laughed awkwardly, playing with his now white hair, “Does it look good? Shirogane dyed it for me… It almost looks natural, doesn’t it? She also gave me this kimono, it’s a nice fit, and the colors are nice.” He extended his arms slightly, showing the white kimono lined with pale green trim and a matching obi, “How do I look?”

“Y-y-you… you look-” The prince’s face reddened as he struggled to form words, “You look-”

“Like a Zenko!” Sonia cut in.

“Thanks…” The boy smiled.

“I couldn’t find anything that could help with his mismatched eyes, but that shouldn’t matter,” Shirogane explained.

“Ah-! I guess we should find a home for Hinata-kun to stay at, should we? We’ll get in trouble if he stays with us.” Sonia pointed out.

“He can stay with me in the meantime. It’s late, and plus, it’ll take time to find a vacant home.” The jorogumo offered.

“Are you really okay with that? I mean… you only just met me…” Hinata said.

“Nonsense! I have an extra room anyway.” The girl smiled.

“That’s very generous of you, Shirogane-san.” Komaeda praised.

“We’re helping out someone in need, right? You two can head on home, it’s getting late.”

_____

“We’re heading out!”

“Wait-! Where do you two think you’re going?” Enoshima demanded.

Sonia smiled, “We heard there’s a newcomer in the village, so we’re going to greet them!”

“Well- then at least bring Nanami-san with you, you shouldn’t be going alone!”

The Zenko siblings sighed and waited for the Baku to catch up to them. Once she did, however, the two quickly began to run down the village, much to Nanami’s dismay.

“Hey….! Slow down, please….!”

Once the three had approached the tailor shop, they were greeted with a peculiar sight. Komaeda looked around. He never usually visited while the shop was open since Shirogane was typically so busy, but this time it seemed busier than usual. He noticed Hinata idly chatting with a blue-haired Yuki-onna, a charismatic smile on his face as he showed her a white kimono, sprinkled with pale blue colors, which showed more near the ends of the sleeves and the bottom of the kimono.

“I think this once goes well with your complexion, Maizono. The colors are similar to the kimono you’re wearing right now, and it’ll be a great fit for you, what do you think?”

“Oh!” The girl smiled, “It’s lovely! Thank you so much, Hinata-kun!”

A bit confused, the two Zenko walked up to them while Nanami stayed behind, “Hey, Hinata-kun... What’s up?”

“Ah- excuse me for a moment, please. Feel free to try on the kimono in one of the fitting rooms. If it’s to your liking, I’ll ring up for you, kay?”

Hinata excused himself and walked over to a corner with the siblings, “Are you working here now, Hinata-kun?” Komaeda asked.

He nodded, “It was already nice enough of Shirogane to help me and allow me to stay here, for the time being, so I thought of repaying her by helping around the shop. I mostly help customers pick out their clothing, but I also make sales too so Shirogane can focus more on making the clothing in general. As an added bonus, it kind of helps with my social skills, seeing as I hadn’t talked to many people in a while.”

Sonia smiled wryly, “Despite that and the fact it’s only been a couple of hours… Hinata-kun already seems really popular with the girls…”

“Tch-!” Komaeda crossed his arms.

“Ahahaha… I doubt that… I’m only trying to be nice.”

“Hey… is this your friend?” Nanami asked, walking to the group, “I’m… Nanami Chiaki… nice to meet you.”

“Hello there, I’m Hinata. Just Hinata.” He smiled, shaking the girl’s hand, “It’s nice to meet you too.”

“Hey, Hinata-kun! I would like to buy the kimono if that’s okay with you?” Maizono suddenly called out.

“Of course! I’ll be right there!” Hinata smiled and walked over to the counter.

Sonia chuckled lightly, “It looks like he’s breaking out of his shell.”

Komaeda sighed and let his arms fall to his sides, “Yeah, I think he is.”


	12. Boy Next Door

"I hadn't realized you were using a walking stick, Hinata-kun."

"Oh yeah, Shirogane told me it'll help with my balance. I won't have to use it for long."

Komaeda hummed, "That makes sense, we wouldn't want you falling over now, haha!" He smiled.

Hinata rolled his eyes and sighed, "Whatever. You know you didn't have to accompany me for my break."

"I feel obligated to! Wouldn't it be rude of me not to show you around my home village? Besides, you haven't had a meal in while, right? I'd like to treat you somewhere to eat."

"Eh, I guess so. But you don't have to do that, Ko."

The prince smiled, "Either way, how have you been enjoying the village so far? Is it to your liking?"

The spiky-haired boy scratched his cheek, "Everyone I've met so far seems nice, so I don't have any complaints right now. They don't seem too suspicious of me."

"Why would they be suspicious of you?"

Hinata shrugged, "The fact that there's suddenly a new boy in the village or whatever."

"I wouldn't think too much about it. By the way, who was that one girl you were talking to when we entered the store?"

"Hm? Uh, her name was Maizono, I believe. She's a Yuki-onna. She said she wanted a more formal kimono for a gathering she was attending. Why do you ask?"

"She was cute, don't you think?"

"That's a weird question... I'm not usually one to focus on appearance the first time I met someone..." Hinata laughed awkwardly. 

"Nevermind that, we're here at my favorite restaurant. You sit down and I'll go on and order, alright?"

Hinata nodded and Komaeda proceeded to walk into the quaint looking building. The boy took the liberty of sitting down at one of the outdoor dining areas.

As he got comfortable, he couldn't help but notice all the friendly smiles and waves people had given him as he passed by. Though Hinata knew they meant no harm- and he returned the gestures too- the Kitsune couldn't help but think they all knew he wasn't from there. That he was an outsider. And indeed he was.

With this, he shamefully looked down at the table and began to tremble, despite the fact it was a relatively warm day. Hinata hugged his arms and tried to steady his breathing as he waited for Komaeda to return.

Desperately, Hinata tried to make himself invisible to everyone else, not wanting anyone to look at him. He rocked himself back and forth, taking deep breaths when someone suddenly put their hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, Hinata-kun. Are you holding up okay? Sorry, I took a while, but I tried looking for something you might enjoy. Here." Komaeda explained briefly, setting the plate of food in front of Hinata.

"O-oh! It's not a problem at all! Thanks, Ko..."

The Prince smiled and sat down at his seat across from the other boy. As he was preparing to eat, Hinata suddenly gasped rather loudly.

"Oh my God, Ko! Is this mochi?!"

The Zenko laughed softly, "Is that okay?"

"More than okay! I hadn't had mochi in so long..." Hinata exclaimed before taking a rather large bite from the rice cake.

"Be careful, Hinata-kun. You might choke if you eat it too fast."

The Kitsune's eyes lit up as he continued to enjoy his meal. Komaeda smiled at him for a while before beginning to eat his meal. The two conversed idly together as they ate, and for a while, everything seemed okay.

The Prince was about to ask Hinata a question when he suddenly felt someone's hands on his shoulders.

"Guess who!"

He waited for a moment. It was a female voice, a somewhat unfamiliar voice at that.

"...Iruma-san?"

"Hahaha! You got it! Guess you aren't as stupid as when I last saw you, Komaeda!" The girl smiled, sitting down next to him.

"I'm surprised you're here," Komaeda began, "I thought the ports were closed."

"Meh, they are for the most part." She began, leaning against the table, "But as I am royalty! I am an exception to that dumb rule!"

Hinata tilted his head in confusion and squinted at the weird girl as he stared at her. He hummed to himself in thought as she tried to decipher what Yokai she may have been.

Komaeda quickly caught on to this confusion and smiled, "Oh, sorry Hinata! You must be a little confused. This is Iruma Miu, she's the princess of the Ottoman Empire. She's a Succubus."

"The Ottoman Empire...? That's kinda far away..." Hinata mumbled.

The Succubus grinned and slide over by Hinata, setting her arms on the table once more, "You've probably never even been outside the kingdom before have you, Boy?"

Hinata laughed softly and nervously tugged at his sleeve, "Well, no- not exactly. So... you're kind of a new sight for me, hehe..."

"Hmmm, I guess so. What's your name, Boy?"

"Eek! It's Hinata!" He stuttered.

"Just Hinata?" Iruma purred, sitting yo straight.

"Mhm, mhm! Just Hinata. Your name is Iruma?"

The blonde girl smiled, "Yep! Consider it an honor, pretty boy. I've only ever visited this village a couple of times, but you seem to catch my attention the most."

"Eep! D-do I?" Hinata laughed, his face turning red, "Well, uh... well I-"

"Oi. You succubi and incubi are confident, aren't you? Even still, get your hands off him, slug." Komaeda said sharply.

"Heeeey...!" Iruma whined, "That's discriminatory! You're so mean!"

"Tch. Anyway, I'll take the plates back inside. I still need to finish showing you around, Hinata-kun."

"Ah! Right, sure!"

_____

"What do you use a walking stick for, Hinata?" Iruma asked curiously.

"I've been having trouble with my lower body lately, so I'm using this for the time being." The boy explained briefly.

  
"I'm sure you'll be fine after a couple of days, Hinata-kun." Komaeda smiled.

The girl hummed and looked back and forth between the two males, "Oh, I see I see, so basically, you and Komaeda have been having s-"

*SMACK*

"That's not what it is. You know it doesn't have to always revolve around that. So why don't you shut your mouth before I kick you off this kingdom myself." The prince growled.

"Ahhhhh... Ow... I forgot how much of a prude Komaeda is..." Iruma whined, rubbing the side of her head.

' _Hm... They seem to be good friends.'_ Hinata thought, _'But Komaeda said Iruma is a princess, so he must be pretty high up in the social class to be able to be that close to royalty... and why are the ports closed?? That seems so useless...'_

"I think I should be heading back to the tailor shop now," Hinata said, "My break should probably be ending soon."

"Oh, I'll walk you back then! I'll talk to you later, Iruma-san." Komaeda waved at the girl.

The succubus sighed and waved dismissively, "Hee! Whatever! See ya later, prude!"

"How are you feeling, Hinata?"

"Hm? Why are you asking?"

The Zenko shrugged, "I dunno. I know I've already asked before, but how are you feeling so far? About being in the village?"

The other boy sighed, "It's really different, I feel so out of place." Hinata said as his ears flattened against his head.

Komaeda frowned, "Has anyone been treating you poorly?"

"No, not at all. I just can't help but shake the feeling, no?"

"I see..." The prince mumbled, "Well, if there's anything you need help with, just make sure to tell me, okay?"

Hinata remained silent for a moment before responding, "Alright then. I'll make sure to remember that."

"Great!"

"Thanks, Ko."


	13. My Heart's Desire

A prince shouldn't be in love with a commoner.

A prince shouldn't be in love with a commoner.

A prince shouldn't be in love with a commoner.

"A... Prince shouldn't be in love with a commoner..." Komaeda quietly repeated this phrase to himself as he rested his head and arms on the ledge of the balcony.

He hummed lowly as the light breeze of the nightly wind slightly messed up his hair. It's only been a couple of weeks since Hinata had broken from the mirror, but it had been an even longer time since they first met.

Since then, Komaeda seemed to want to grow closer with the mysterious boy, mainly out of want of having a friend that wasn't his sister or one of his servants. But as the weeks passed by of Hinata physically being with the Prince in actuality, he couldn't help but feel differently when around the boy.

Not in a way that would make him feel bad, but the Zenko couldn't quite figure out the feelings he felt when he would spend time with Hinata.

At least...

He didn't want to figure it out.

Komaeda sighed to himself and looked down at the shadows of the village houses as they were dimly illuminated by the moonlight.

"Hinata-kun is probably asleep by now..."

Komaeda sighed and stood up, deciding that it was getting late. The prince grabbed the lantern that was beside him and walked back into the library.

_____

But, of course, that's what the people are taught to believe. No one exactly knows how they acted, or who they served. It's been half a millennia, and most people are left in the dark.

But not many yokai live to tell the tale. It's a time of peace and prosperity. Most are happy with what they had now. The militaristic dictatorship had complete control, using that power to cater to its residents.

Of course, despite this peace, some are left unsatisfied. As if those who died were stripped away from what once was theirs. It's not a fair judgment, especially with how it happened so so long ago. What could be done to fix this?

_____

"Hey, Hinata-kun, do you mind if I show you somewhere?"

"Jeez, how big is your village? I've been here for weeks now and you still have things to show me!"

Komaeda chuckled, "What can I say? I enjoy spending time with you, and I'd like to spend more with you."

"Tch-! W-w-well, I- I guess it's not that bad..." Hinata mumbled.

The Prince smiled at the boy's reaction and walked slightly ahead towards a river and sat down by the bank.

"Eh? I've never seen this here." Hinata's ear twitched slightly as he walked by Komaeda.

"Sit down." The Zenko said, patting the ground beside him.

The boy sighed a bit and sat down by the other, looking over the body of water.

"Is this what you wanted to show? Just a dumb river?"

Komaeda smiled, "Well... I think this is more than just a 'dumb river.' It's pretty, isn't it? A lot of people come here sometimes since it's in the middle of the village.

" Huh, weird how I never noticed it before..." Hinata said, hugging his knees.

The prince chuckled softly, "I guess it's easy to miss when you're not paying attention. I think it's relaxing."

Hinata hummed lowly, inching closer to Komaeda, "U-um..."

"Hm?"

"Uhhh... uh, nevermind. It's nothing." The boy huffed.

Komaeda smiled at him until he felt something on his forehead.

"Ah- what-?" The Zenko looked up confused, only to realize the sky had darkened, "Oh... I guess it's going to rain... that's a shame."

"Rain?!"  
"Yeah? Is there something wrong with that?"

Suddenly in a frenzied panic, Hinata moved close to Komaeda's face and whispered, "Look, I forgot to tell you this, but the dye Shirogane gave me for my hair actually washes out really easily when it gets wet, so I suggest we leave immediately!"

With his face red due to Hinata's actions, Komaeda quickly nodded and stood up. As the unexpected rain began to fall harder, the Prince slipped off his haori and draped it over the other's head. The two continued to run as fast they could back to the tailor shop, it wasn't too far, but the rain had started so suddenly other villagers were running seeking shelter as well.

Once the two boys made it to the shop, Hinata immediately ran into the backroom with Shirogane looking confused.

"What happened? Is everything alright? You're soaking wet!" She exclaimed, walking over to the out of breath prince.

"Yeah... I don't know if you realized, but it started pouring outside...! I think there's a storm forming..."

The Jorogumo tilted her head in confusion, "But it was sunny outside just a few minutes ago," She said as she peeked out the window, "Oh... I guess so. Shoot!"

Komaeda merely nodded as he continued to catch his breath. As the two sat in silence, Shirogane shot back as a bright flash suddenly illuminated the sky, followed by thunder.

...

"It looks bad out there..." The girl muttered.

"Hey uh, do you think I could stay here for the night?" Komaeda asked sheepishly.

"What?! My Prince, you'll get in trouble if you stay out too long, I-!"

"Mmh... It's looking pretty bad outside... what are you two talking about?" Hinata asked as he walked out of the back rooms, drying his hair with a towel.

The spider girl sighed in defeat and shook her head, "I'll send a telegraph to your mother. Hinata-kun, get some towels and jinbei for Komaeda-kun. He'll catch a cold wearing those clothes."

The boy nodded, "Before that, what's a telegraph?" He asked.

"I'll tell you later," Komaeda said, "Uh, mind if I use your bathroom?"

Shirogane shook her head as she prepared to send a message, "Not at all."

_____

Hinata sat in his room doodling on a small canvas. He hummed happily to himself as Komaeda walked in, "What are you up to, Hinata-kun?"

"Wah-! N-nothing!" He yelled, trying to hide the canvas behind his back.

Komaeda tilted his head in confusion and sat down beside him, "You don't have to be secretive. Were you painting something?"

The spiky-haired boy's ears flattened as his cheeks began to redden, "W-well... I was... I was painting... um..."

Flustered, Hinata slowly showed the painted canvas to Komaeda, which seemed to be a painting of cherry blossoms. 

Komaeda stared at the small painting for a short moment in silence before he smiled, "This looks great, Hinata-kun!" He beamed.

"Really?!" Hinata asked.

The prince nodded, "Of course! How did you learn to paint this well?"

"Oh, well... I had kind of a boring childhood... so painting was a good pass time for me." He muttered.

The prince smiled, "Well, it's a lovely painting, Hinata-kun." He reassured, handing the canvas back to the other boy.

"Hehe... Thanks... it took a few days to paint."

"What prompted you to draw cherry blossoms? The season was over months ago." The Zenko asked.

Hinata's cheeks flushed once again and he set the painting down, "Um... Uh... well..." he covered his mouth with his sleeve, "Cherry blossoms kind of remind me of you..." he spoke quietly.

Komaeda's ear twitched as he tried to hear, "Huh? What was that?"

"Tch-! I just like them, okay?! You don't need to be so weird about it!" He suddenly yelled.

The Zenko threw his hands up in defense and laughed nervously, "Ahaha... okay, okay!"

"Hmph!" Hinata sighed and began putting his painting supplies away, "Jeez, you're so annoying!" The boy grabbed a pillow and huffed, throwing it at Komaeda and hitting him in the face, "Whatever anyway. It's getting late, we should go to sleep."

"Wait, in the same futon?!"

"Yeah? Is there something wrong with that?" Hinata asked, fluffing his pillow before laying down.

"Oh, no, not at all. I was a little surprised I guess." Komaeda chuckled a bit and laid down beside Hinata.

"Well... good night, Ko." The boy said and turned off the oil lamp.

And like that, the two males were alone in the darkness. The white-haired male frowned as his face began to burn.

'Cherry blossoms kind of remind me of you...'

Did he really mean that, or had Komaeda misheard? What did that mean? The Zenko sighed and turned over in the futon. He found it hard to fall asleep. It seemed to be so quiet, Komaeda could hear his heart pound in his chest. The day had certainly been an eventful one and the questions he had been asking himself from the night before hadn't been answered. 

The window curtains were drawn, and the room was in total darkness. Not even the light of the moon was able to shine through the window. Komaeda remained awake as he tried to wrap his head around all the emotions he had been feeling recently,

"My heart's desire..." He whispered to himself.

"My heart's desire..."

"..."

"My desire..."

"..."

Despite the fact Komaeda couldn't see him, he turned over to Hinata.

"Hinata-kun..."


	14. My Deepest Secrets

Komaeda felt uncomfortable in his sleep, so he decided to roll over. He wrapped his arm around a warm lump, it smelled like citrus. The prince remained his way for a short while until he felt the lump begin to shift. The disruption caused him to drift out of sleep, and Komaeda slowly began to open his eyes.

Once he was half awake, the white-haired boy quickly realized the lump was another yokai, and he quickly pulled his arm away and sat up. If Komaeda wasn't awake yet, his embarrassment surely had awoken him now. Not too long after, Hinata slowly sat up too, and sleepily rubbed his eyes.

"Mmm... Good morning, Ko..."

"Uh, good morning, Hinata-kun!" Komaeda smiled, trying to get over his embarrassment.

Hinata yawned before getting up and stretched a bit. The Prince stayed in the futon as the other boy walked to the window and opened the curtains.

"It looks a little wet outside, but it seems like the rain stopped during the night. The sun is rising. Guess it'll be a somewhat clear day today." He explained briefly. 

"That's good, maybe we'll be able to go out today," Komaeda responded and finally crawled out of the futon.

"I guess so," Hinata hummed, "By the way, do you want to get ready first? I'll need to dye my hair, and it can take a little while."

"I think you look cuter with your brown hair-" Komaeda quickly covered his mouth.

The Prince tried to regain his composure as he began to speak again, "What I mean was- Uh... It was supposed to be a compliment..."

Hinata shrugged, seemingly unfazed by the Zenko's comment.

"By the way, I'm guessing you don't wear your hair dye while resting?" Komaeda asked, trying to change the subject.

The boy shook his head no, "It seems like a hassle to do so after I take a bath. Besides, I don't think it's a good idea to apply it while it's dry. And no one usually visits at night after the shop closes. Except for you."

The Prince smiled, "I guess it would be a hassle then, and a waste of dye... Well, I guess I should get ready for the day now, should I?"

Hinata nodded and walked over to a drawer, "Your kimono got soaked in the rain, so it'll need some time to dry. You can wear this in the meantime, it's free of charge." He said and handed Komaeda a neatly folded kimono.

"Really? That's so thoughtful of you! Are you sure?"

The boy nodded, "It's nowhere near as fancy as the ones you wear... But I hope you like it..."

Komaeda smiled, "Shirogane-san designs such wonderful kimonos! I'm sure I'll love it."

"O-oh, um, actually..." Hinata began.

"Hm?"

"Since I still haven't found a place of my own to call home yet, I offered to help Shirogane in other ways than just being a sales clerk..." He explained.

"Yes?"

"Well... I designed that kimono myself..." 

Komaeda tilted his head, "Oh! Is that so? I'm sure it'll be lovely, Hinata-kun!" He smiled.

Hinata played with his sleeve nervously, "Really?"

The Prince nodded.

"Whew... That's a relief. Uh, I'll let you get ready now."

_____

Even after Hinata had finished dyeing his hair and getting ready for the day, Komaeda stayed behind for a short time frame while Hinata and Shirogane were getting the tailor shop ready for the day. 

Well, Shirogane was getting it ready. 

Hinata stood by the telegraph, pressing down on the knob repeatedly in awe. The blue-haired girl sighed at the boy's antics and continued to organize the articles of clothing that were on display. After another short while, Komaeda finally emerged from the back and joined the other two yokai.

"Good morning, Komaeda-kun," Shirogane greeted, "I already sent a message to your mother, so you're free to leave once you're ready."

He nodded to her before turning his attention to Hinata, who was still sitting by the telegraph.

"Hehe... What are you doing, Hinata-kun?" Komaeda asked.

"This is... So cool..." He muttered, continuing to press down on the knob.

The Prince smiled wryly and pulled on the sleeve of his kimono. Since it wasn't specifically tailored to his preferences, the sleeves reached to his wrist, instead of passed his hands. But Hinata had designed the kimono, so he automatically liked it.

"Hey, Ko!" Hinata suddenly exclaimed and jumped up, "Do you wanna hang out for a while before the shop opens?"

"Oh! Usually, I'm the one asking you, but sure, I'd love to." Komaeda smiled.

"Great! Then let's go!"

The two Kitsune waved goodbye to the Jorogumo before they left. She sighed a bit and shook her head.

"Those two will be the death of each other..."

_____

"

It's a little colder than usual today." Hinata pointed out.

"It rained yesterday, so I guess the mist is making the air a little cooler today," Komaeda replied.

"Do you want to go to eat somewhere?" The other boy asked, "I want to treat you this time." 

"Oh, are you sure?"

Hinata nodded, "We haven't eaten breakfast yet. I think it'll be nice." 

The Zenko shrugged, "I guess so then."

The boy smiled and the two set out to find a nearby restaurant.

"You wait here, okay? I'll go in and order some breakfast food." 

Komaeda nodded and Hinata waltzed into the building by himself. He hummed to himself and looked at one of the sleeves of his kimono. It was a simple solid red color, with a gold-colored obi. While it wasn't a color scheme he typically would wear, he thought it looked nice. After a short while, the Prince heard a voice call out to him. At first, he thought it was Hinata.

"Komaeda-sama...! There you are..."

The Prince turned around to be greeted by Nanami, who seemed a little shaken up.

"We were worried sick about you last night... We received a telegraph that you would stay in the village during the storm, but we grew concerned when you didn't return in the morning..." The Baku explained.

He smiled apologetically, "Ah, I must have lost track of time, then. I'm sorry I made you all worry so much."

"I came to look for you... Your Majesty... What are you doing here anyway? You should be coming home by now..."

"Oh! Uh, I should be home later. I just... I wanna walk around for a but..." Komaeda muttered.

"Mmm... Well, I'll tell everyone that you're safe, then..." Nanami spoke softly.

"Is that all you needed, Nanami-san? I promise I'll be home soon, I just need to do some things." 

She nodded, "As long as we're aware you're safe... Uh... I'll be seeing you then, my Prince..." The girl took a small bow and began to walk off again.

Komaeda frowned, but he was relieved it was Nanami that went looking for him rather than Enoshima. He sighed and crossed his arms, slightly annoyed at the reminder that he had other responsibilities rather than just being a normal teenage boy. Other than that, everything seemed normal until he heard a loud crash from behind him.

The boy flinched and quickly turned around, only to find Hinata standing there, who had also dropped a tray, causing the crashing sound.

"Oh gosh! Are you okay, Hinata-kun?" Komaeda asked and ran over to the startled boy.

"Wait, Ko... Are you a prince?"

"Ah, gee... I guess you saw that conversation, huh? Gosh, that's embarrassing... I've been meaning to tell you, but yes, I am..." He sighed.

Hinata remained silent for a moment before speaking again, "If you're a Kitsune, and you're a prince..."

Komaeda looked at him in confusion, "Uh-huh?"

"That has to mean... Are you a descendent of Inari?"

"Eheheh... Good observation... I'm her son, believe it or not." He smiled.

"The son of Inari..." Hinata whispered, "No..."

Komaeda's smile quickly faded into a frown, "Is everything alright, Hinata-kun?"

The boy shook his head in disbelief, "No... No, no!"

Hinata shoved Komaeda away from him and quickly began running. The other boy stumbled slightly but began running after him once he regained his balance.

"Wait, Hinata-kun! What's wrong?! Please tell me what's wrong!" Komaeda cried out.

Ignoring looking bystanders, the two boys had ended up running into the forest. Knowing they would get lost if they continued, Komaeda tried calling out again.

"Hinata-kun, please stop running! Just talk to me, please!" 

He was running out of breath at this point and the yelling wasn't helping him with that. What surprised him more was how fast Hinata could run despite not being able to walk properly just a few weeks prior.

Hinata finally stopped at a clearing and Komaeda stopped a few meters behind him, attempting to regain his breath before speaking up.

"Hinata-kun, wha-" He caught himself as he looked around at his surroundings, just now taking notice of where they were.

"Isn't... Isn't this the place where we first met? How did you even know where to go?"

At first, Hinata didn't respond. He stared blankly at the ground before he finally spoke up, "Do you think I'm stupid? I took the time to examine my surroundings while you and Sonia were looking for my star ball."

Komaeda frowned, "This is your shrine, isn't it? Why did you come back here?"

Hinata remained silent and bent down to pick up a piece of burnt and decayed wood, "This isn't a shrine."

That statement confused the Zenko. He too fell silent for a moment before coming to the realization, "This was your home. What happened to it?"

"Tch. Wouldn't you like to know?" Hinata snapped, throwing the piece of wood at the remaining rubble.

"Actually, yes! I WOULD like to know! Why did you run away from me like that? What's wrong?!" Komaeda asked, growing frustrated with the other boy.

Hinata turned around and to his surprise, the boy had been crying, "Why did you lie to me?"

"Lie? About what?" The Zenko asked, now losing his voice to a softer level.

"Why did you lie to me about being a prince, huh? Why didn't you tell me?!"

Komaeda shook his head, "Does that matter? I never found the right time to tell you during our conversations, but I'm sorry I hadn't told you earlier! But again, does me being a prince matter?"

"Yes, it does!" Hinata yelled.

"How come? As far as I can tell, you didn't have a problem until now!" Komaeda yelled back.

"Because it means you're the son of Inari! You even told me so yourself!"

"And why does THAT matter?!"

"IT MATTERS BECAUSE YOUR FAMILY KILLED MY FAMILY!"

.

..

...

"Wh... What...?"

Hinata was shaking at this point. Komaeda reached out towards him, but the boy quickly flinched away.

"Hinata-kun..."

"That isn't my name."

"Huh?"

"Hinata... Isn't my real name..." The boy sobbed, trying to wipe his tears.

"Then... What is your name?" The Prince asked.

He took a deep and shaky breath before answering, "My real name... My name... It's... It's Kamakura..."

"Kamakura..." Komaeda repeated softly, "...Izuru?"

The Kitsune shook his head, "No... Izuru was my brother... My name... Is Hajime." 

"Hajime... I don't understand. If your name is Kamakura, then that means-!"

"Yeah, I'm a prince too!" The other boy shouted angrily, "You're looking at the Yako prince. Actually, former Yako prince, I'm the last of my kind. Because SOMEONE'S mother thought it would be a good idea to completely eradicate my kind from the face of the earth!"

Komaeda shook his head, "How is that possible? Yako has been gone since the 14th century!"

The assumed Yako huffed, "You said it yourself. You saw a Kitsune with dark hair and mismatched eyes. Did you ever stop to think why? It's because I'm not like you!" 

The Prince frowned, "But last time I checked, there was only one son!"

"Well, you're wrong then! Because I was born right in the middle of the war, in case anything happened to my family, I would make sure my people were to have a leader to help them! But surprise surprise! Guess what happened! They showed no mercy towards my kingdom. My entire family was killed in front of me and I was trapped in a cursed mirror as some kind of sick joke. They should have just killed me too."

Komaeda was stunned. Did that really happen? The boy standing in front of him didn't seem to be lying. Why would he be?

"Hinata-kun..." Absentmindedly, the Prince reached out towards him and grabbed his hand, causing the other to flinch.

"No! Let go of me! Don't touch me! What are you going to do now?! Are you going to kill me?!" He yelled, trying to break free of Komaeda's grasp.

"No, I'm not letting go, and I'm not going to hurt you!" The Zenko responded, his time grabbing into the other's wrist.

"How am I supposed to trust you, huh?! How do I know you're not lying to me?! How am I supposed to know you're not going to hurt me?!"

"It's because I love you!"

As soon as those words left Komaeda's mouth, the other boy quickly stopped struggling.

"What did you just say...?"

Oh, God. Now wasn't the time for any love confessions. But the words had suddenly left Komaeda's mouth before he even realized it. He gently let go of the boy, but once he did so he fell to his knees.

"H-Hinata-kun?!" Now more worried and panicked than angry and confused, Komaeda bent down to his knees as well.

"S-say that again..."

"I love you."

"Say it again..."

"I love you."

"Please... Say it again..."

Komaeda sighed and smiled softly. He took the boy's hands in his and whispered, 

"I love you, Hajime-kun..."

The other boy remained silent as tears began to form in his mismatched eyes. For a moment, Komaeda thought he had done something wrong until the Yako threw himself onto the Prince and hugged him tightly.

"Th-thank you..."

For a moment Komaeda was confused but eventually wrapped his arms around... Hinata. Yeah. No matter what his past might have been, Komaeda knew that he loved him.

"This forest... It used to be your kingdom, wasn't it?"

Hinata sniffed, and wordlessly nodded as he continued crying into Komaeda's chest.

The Zenko remained silent and gently stroked the boy's hair as his soft sobs filled the air around them. He let him cry. After all, who knows how long Hinata had carried such a heavyweight in his heart. 

"Don't worry, Hajime-kun... We'll find a way to fix this... I promise..."


	15. The Yin and The Yang

When Hinata woke up, he seemed to be in an infirmary. He groaned slowly sat up, trying to get a grasp of his surroundings. Once he seemed more conscious, a female voice spoke to him. One that he hadn't heard before.

"Ah, you're finally awake, boy."

"Mmmh..." Hinata rubbed his head and looked up at a blonde pigtailed girl. Instinctively, he froze up.

"Are you feeling better?" She asked.

He nodded wordlessly.

The tengu smiled, "That's good. You're certainly in the castle infirmary. The prince brought you here unconscious. You were fatigued and dehydrated."

"..." Hinata remained silent.

"Oh, my name is Enoshima Junko, by the way! What's your name?"

"...I'm... I'm Hinata..."

"Just Hinata?" She asked.

Hinata nodded again.

"I haven't seen you around here before. I'm guessing you were the new one that arrived here a little while ago?"

The Kitsune nodded.

"You're not much of a talker, are you? Well, that's no matter. Here's a glass of water, I will be right back." Enoshima handed him a cup and waves goodbye before leaving the room.

Hinata frowned and gripped the cup, debating whether or not to take a sip. His throat was parched. In the end, Hinata sighed and took a long drink of water. After a couple of minutes, Komaeda had entered the room. At first, the Yako was relieved to see him.

"Hey... How are you feeling?"

Hinata shrugged, "I guess I'm okay."

The white-haired male smiled and sat down in a chair next to the other boy, "You passed out. I didn't want to leave you out there, so I brought you back here to my home."

Hinata huffed, "Uh... Thanks for that... I guess..."

The Prince smiled softly and placed his hand on the other boy's, "Hey, are you sure you're okay?"

The spiky-haired boy's cheeks reddened slightly before he spoke, "U-um... When we were back in the forest... Did you... Did you mean what you said back there...?"

"Ah, well... I know very well it wasn't the best situation to say what I said at all. It just came out during the panic. But that doesn't mean I didn't mean it. I truly do love you, Hinata-kun." Komaeda spoke softly.

"H... How...?"

"Hm?"

Hinata's ears flattened against his head, "Why... How do you love someone like me? Especially now that you know I'm a Yako..."

Komaeda smiled once again, "I fell in love with you because of you, Hinata-kun. I don't care if you're a Yako, a Baku, Tengu, or Zenko. It doesn't change who you are, it doesn't change the fact I fell in love with you." He said, lightly kissing Hinata's hand.

The boy's face reddened more as he teared up, "I- K-ko..." He smiled a bit and quickly wiped his tears, "You're so stupid... And maybe- maybe I feel the same about you..."

"Maybe? That's not very reassuring." The Prince laughed.

Hinata frowned, "I... Ya know... I do... I do lo... Lo... Iloveyoutoo! Hmph!"

He set his cup down and buried his head in Komaeda's chest. The Zenko chuckled softly and stroked his hair.

"I see you're a bit more lively now. I'm guessing you're feeling better? If so, do you mind coming with me?"

"Mmm... Where are we going?" Hinata asked.

"Come with me." Komaeda helped the boy stand up and lead him out of the infirmary.

The Yako walked close to the other Kitsune as he observed his surroundings, "I'm guessing this is your home..."

"Ah, yeah. To be honest, it's a bit embarrassing! Hehe, I try my best to get out as much I can..." The Prince replied.

"Really? I was the opposite. I stayed in my home for nearly all my life."

"Hm? Why was that?"

Hinata shook his head, "It doesn't matter. What do you want to show me?"

Komaeda's ears perked up, "Oh! Right, I wanted to bring you to the library."

"The library? Why's that?"

"You'll see."

_____

Once in the library, Komaeda had sat Hinata down at a table. The boy nervously played with his sleeve as the other boy shuffled around the library, seemingly looking for something. After a couple of minutes, Komaeda had found a book and sat down next to Hinata.

"So, your kingdom was practically destroyed, huh?"

The Yako sighed and slowly nodded.

The Prince hummed.

"Actually, can you give me something to write with?" Hinata asked Komaeda.

The Zenko nodded and handed the other boy a piece of paper and a brush pen.

Komaeda watched silently as Hinata doodled a picture of a circle. He colored one of the sides black, leaving a white dot near the bottom. On the other side, he left it blank, only with a small black dot on the top.

"You can consider this the basis of our two kingdoms," Hinata explained before pointing to the darker side, "You can call this my side of the kingdom. The more... erm, introverted side of our land. On your side, it's more light, more extroverted. But you see these two inverted dots on each side? That is their strongest point. The light is strongest with dark. The dark is strongest with light."

Komaeda's eyes furrowed as he studied the drawing, "Is this... the Yin Yang? Ohhh, but now since your kingdom is gone... I guess only the Yang remains..."

Hinata nodded.

The Prince sighed, "Well, don't worry, Hinata-kun! Even if it's relatively small compared to your whole kingdom, I'll make sure to get your family back."

The boy scoffed, "Their starballs were shattered, how do you expect to manage that?"

Komaeda shrugged, "We managed to free you from your mirror, huh? I'm sure we'll figure It out one day." he smiled.

Hinata frowned and lightly tugged on Komaeda's sleeve, "Um..."

"Hm?"

"C-can we hug again...?"

The Zenko smiled and gently pulled the boy closer to him, "Of course."

"...I like this..." The spiky-haired boy sighed.

The two remained in an embrace for a long while before finally pulling away. As they did so, the door to the library had opened.

"Nagito-sama? Are you in here? Have you seen Hinata-kun?"

Komaeda looked up, "Oh, he's here! Why?"

Enoshima smiled, "I would like him to come with me."

Hinata frowned a bit, but nodded and stood up, leaving the library with the Tengu. Once again, the Kitsune found himself walking around the castle. Feeling anxious, he nervously bit his lip and tugged on his sleeve.

"You seem a bit tense," Enoshima began, breaking the silence, "Why is that?"

"U-um... w-w-well..." Hinata looked down, avoiding looking at the girl, "W-when can I... go home...?"

She smiled wryly, "Oh, you poor boy."

"W...what...?"

"Do you know where I'm taking you, boy?" The Tengu asked.

He shook his head slowly.

"I'm taking you to your room," Enoshima spoke flatly.

"My... my room?"

She nodded, "The prince saved your life. You are now indebted to him, you'll be serving him from now on."

"Huh?! For how long? I have a job as a merchant!" 

The Tengu giggled, "I'm not sure, but we have it taken care of. Anyway, this is where you'll be staying."

Hinata swallowed hard and nodded slowly, carefully entering the room.

"Well, I hope to get along with you!" Enoshima smiled and closed the door behind him.

The room was well furnished. It looked cozy and comfortable. But despite that, Hinata fell to his knees while holding his hand to his mouth. Sweat trickled down his forehead as he tried to regain his composure. His heart was beating fast due to the anxiety, and he tried steadying his breathing.

"Oh gosh..." Hinata breathed deeply and slowly stood up, "Ugh... I have to get used to this..."


	16. An Eye For An Eye

There was a knock at the door.

Hinata inhaled deeply and smoothed out his kimono before opening the door, "Hello...?"

Komaeda smiled at him, "Hey, Hinata-Kun. Do you mind if I come in?"

"Uhhh... sure! Yeah... yeah." The boy smiled awkwardly and let the prince inside.

"Are you okay, you seem a bit tense?' He asked.

Hinata shook his head, " No. I'm fine. I just need to get used to this, I guess."

Komaeda smiled again, "I understand. By the way, I have this for you." He said, putting something in the other boy's hand.

He looked down and sighed in relief, "Oh... the hair dye. I kind of forgot about this. Thanks, Ko. Hehe... I'm sure I'll be needing that." The Yako smiled and set the small jar in a drawer.

"Oh, by the way, Hinata-Kun. We never actually read the book I got. We should go back to the library."

The spiky-haired boy nodded, "Yeah. That seems reasonable."

Komaeda smiled and brought him back to the library, grabbing the book they were going to read before they were interrupted. Hinata sat next to the prince and fidgeted a bit. The Zenko looked over to him and smiled.

"Hey, do you mind if I do something, Hinata-Kun?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Komaeda smiled once again and moved his hand closer to Hinata's. The Prince slowly intertwined his fingers with the other boy's and gently squeezed his hand.

The Kitsune's face immediately reddened at the gesture, "H-h-h-huh?!"

"Is this okay, Hinata-Kun?"

"You're... Holding... My hand..."

Komaeda nodded, "Is... Is that okay with you?"

Hinata slowly nodded and rested his head on Zenko's shoulder, "Sure... Whatever..."

The Prince laughed softly, "I guess we'll read like this then."

"What are we even reading?" The boy asked.

"It's a book about the Genko War entirely. What surprises me the most is that even though it technically ended in 1333 when the Kamakura Shogunate fell to ruin after the siege, the conflict itself lasted until 1392... And since I never read in any of the books that they had a second son, maybe you can debunk some of the details in the book, Hinata-kun? It's starting to look quite obvious a lot has been left out."

The Yako sighed, "Well, you're technically right about one thing. After my family's kingdom was initially destroyed, my family tried establishing a new one. But only three years after, another war had begun. I'm guessing that's the part you're familiar with, huh?"

Komaeda nodded, "Uh-huh."

"You're right about the Genko War ending in 1333, but since the two conflicts were so close to one another, I guess it was mushed into one big entire war that ended up lasting three decades, or so I think..."

"You... think?"

Hinata sighed and nuzzled Komaeda's shoulder, "I mean... I was born in the middle of the war, I don't know too much about it since I was so sheltered, and I was imprisoned shortly after it officially ended, so I don't know every little detail, but I can try to clear up some of the murky waters."

The Prince smiled and scratched behind the Yako's ear, "Oh, that's fine, we don't need a 100% accurate retelling of the events."

"Nnnh... Hey, wait! Don't do that!"

"Ehehe... You seemed to like it, though." Komaeda chuckled.

Hinata slapped his hand away, "Well maybe a little, but don't treat me like a dog!"

"Hmhm, I'm only trying to show you some affection, don't you like that?"

"...maybe a little." The boy repeated.

The Zenko smiled once more as he closed the book, "Actually, Hinata-kun, I have a question for you."

"Mmm, what is it?"

Komaeda exhaled deeply and softly grabbed Hinata's hands, pulling him closer, "Hinata-kun, will you let me make you mine?"

Hinata took a moment to process the question before his eyes widened and his face deeply reddened, "Wh-wh-what? M-me? Are you... are you sure?"

The Prince nodded, "Of course. I wouldn't be asking you if I wasn't. So, what do you say?"

"I... I would love to... Take care of me, okay?"

"I will," Komaeda smiled softly and placed his hand on the other's cheek. The two boys gazed at each other for a short while in silence. Eventually, they slowly began to lean in towards each other. Hinata closed his eyes and Komaeda wrapped his arms around his waist.

But before the two could get any closer, the door suddenly swung open. In a panic, Komaeda quickly pushed the Yako away, causing him to fall over on his back.

"Nagito! I knew you'd be in here-! Oh! Hi, Hinata-kun! I hadn't realized you were feeling better." Sonia smiled.

"Gee, thanks." He sighed.

The princess played with her sleeve, "Um... what are you doing on the floor?"

Komaeda opened his mouth to speak, but Hinata beat him to it, "I'm bored. Tell Ko that's he's boring and reading books is boring."

"B-boring?!"

The blonde girl shook her head, "Well that doesn't matter right now. Mother needs you right away."

The Prince frowned, "What for?" He asked, standing up and walking towards his sister."

"I'm not sure, but I guess it's something important. ...You coming with us, Hinata-kun?"

"Mmmnope! You go and do your boring princely duties, I'll stay here and lie on the floor."

Komaeda smiled and playfully winked at the boy before the two Zenko left and closed the door behind them.

Hinata sighed and banged his head on the floor, "Mmmmmmph! What am I supposed to do now?"

The boy muttered to himself and looked at the book sitting on the table.

"I guess I should do my job as a servant now and figure out where to put this book away." He picked up the book and stood up, looking around.

"Huh... this library seemed a lot smaller when I first came in here..."

He looked at the book and began to look around the shelves, deciphering what order the books were organized in. As he was looking for the book's spot, he heard the door open again.

"Oh? You're back already, K-?"

Hinata froze up and dropped the book, causing the sound of the crash to make the Tengu who just came in flinch.

"There you are, Hinata-kun! I was looking for you."

The boy regained his composure and picked up the book again, "You were?"

Enoshima nodded, "Now that you'll be working here as a servant from now on, I figure I would give you a tour of the palace and have you meet the rest of the staff. Besides, it'll also give me some time to get to know you better.

"I... I guess it would... but I need to find where this book goes first."

The girl smiled and took the book from him, setting it on the shelf, "That's no matter. Come walk with me."

As they were leaving the library, the Tengu eyed the drawing Hinata made that was still lying on the desk, "So tell me, what were you doing in the library?"

Hinata bit his lip, "Ah... Komaeda was showing me some history about the war... Actually... what do you know about the Genko War?"

She shrugged, "Only about as much as there are in history books. Why do you ask?"

"I guess he got me thinking about this too... do you think what happened was justified."

The girl sighed, "Of course. An eye for an eye."

"...right."

"But enough about that. You said you just moved here from another village. Which one are you from?"

Hinata swallowed nervously, "Ummmm... just... a village from the... south..."

Enoshima tilted her head, "Nare Village?"

"Uhhhh, yes!"

"Hm, that's strange. Nare Village is quite small, I've been there sometimes and I've never seen you before."

The boy twiddled his thumbs, "That's because uhhhh... my parents were quite overprotecting of me, so I was inside for most of my childhood. Uh, that's why I came here! It took a lot of convincing..."

"You look quite young to be living on your own."

Hinata smiled nervously, "I get that a lot."

The Tengu smiled, "I guess it doesn't matter. Let's go introduce you to the other servants.

"Oh... uh... of course..."


End file.
